How Amazon changed Seattle

Amazon’s headquarters in downtown Seattle

Photo by Megan Farmer/KUOW

Cities are finalizing bids ahead of Thursday's deadline to apply to host Amazon's second headquarters, known as HQ2. City officials are eager to attract 50,000 high-wage jobs, billions of dollars in direct investment and millions more in related economic activity. But Amazon also wants tax breaks. Is HQ2 a prize worth winning?

Who better to ask than HQ1, Seattle? DnA speaks to Posey Gruener and Caroline Chamberlain of KUOW, which is producing Prime(d), a podcast launching this week that will explore the ways Amazon has transformed Seattle.

They found that becoming the Amazon company town is a mixed blessing: rising house prices, gentrification and a loss of distinctive Seattle culture like grunge and its once close-knit gayborhood; on the other hand much more to do, greater affluence for some and a chance to beta-test Amazon concepts.