Boston may not have been selected as a site of Amazon’s second headquarters—but a local startup is playing a key role in shaping the future of Crystal City, one of the two locations for HQ2 that Amazon confirmed on Monday, last week.
CoUrbanize, a Boston-based startup that raised a total of $3 million in funding, is working with developer JBG Smith, which owns most of the real estate in Crystal City, Virginia, to collect community input that will shape Arlington's HQ2.
Launched in 2013, CoUrbanize provides a technology platform that allows developers to gather feedback from community members via text, social media and comments posted in online forums. In early 2017, the Boston startup started working with JBG Smith to redefine the Crystal City area, long before the city bagged the Amazon's HQ2 contract.
"Development teams like JBG Smith use our technology... to get feedback from a broader audience of people: People who may not have the privilege or time to go to a community meeting," Karin Brandt, CEO and founder of CoUrbanize, explained.
Brandt added that the feedback from the Arlington community was especially important for JBG Smith because not many people live in the Crystal City area or go there during the weekends or after work. And, the developer wanted to make the planned Crystal City’s Central District attractive for a lot of people—including the incoming 25,000 new Amazon employees.
"People talk a lot about [Crystal City] like people talked about Kendall Square maybe four years ago."
"People talk a lot about [Crystal City] like people talked about Kendall Square maybe four years ago," Brandt said. "A lot of offices, and a lot of things are quiet after business hours."
Starting last fall, the team of 15 people at CoUrbanize (which didn't work directly with Amazon) started collecting comments from Virginia residents about what they wanted to see in Crystal City, including what kind of buildings, retail shops, activities, parks, even benches. To prompt feedback, the Boston startup posted signs across Crystal City asking questions that people could answer online or via texts.
In total, the company gathered over 850 comments, which were then turned into data reports that helped JBG Smith “distill and summarize” results, Brandt said.
The project, which is available online, received final approval from Arlington county at the end of October. The next phase will be building a plan for actual construction.
Brandt said that at the moment, they're not working with the development group in Queens, which will be home to the New York City-based Amazon's HQ2.
