When Amazon announced that it was looking for its next headquarters, every major city in the country and around the globe began thinking of how it would pitch itself as the best place for Amazon to move. Boston, of course, was among the long list of cities promoting itself as primed for innovation, progress and exponential growth. Mayor Martin J. Walsh said Boston will keep its bid under wraps until the submission deadline passes but has already made it clear that he would like the next Amazon headquarters to be here in Boston.

As enticing as being the site of Amazon’s next headquarters may be, there are issues that must be addressed in order to make any future relationship with Amazon as effective as possible. In a city where affordable housing and gentrification are already a problems, it’s important to think proactively about Amazon coming to Boston.

In Amazon’s first home, Seattle, the company has transformed and in many ways shaped the city. Amazon didn’t just set up shop and get to work, it made itself part of the fabric of the city in anyway that it could. The company has grown throughout the city virtually unrestrained, and because of this Seattle is currently going through one of the largest building booms in the country and has seen a large number of jobs added to the economy. Amazon employs nearly 40,000 people in Washington, with more than 25,000 of the jobs in Seattle.

Every city has its own identity, and while Amazon became part of Seattle’s, it is unlikely to do so here. Instead, Amazon would likely benefit from an existing culture in Boston: the college community. There are 35 colleges, universities and community colleges in the city, all full of young professionals ready and willing to work for companies like Amazon. The rising popularity in computer science education over the past decade is creating generations of tech-minded college students. Many of them live and study right here in Boston and the prospect of Amazon headquarters in their backyard is certainly appealing.

Northeastern University’s computer science department is one of the university’s largest, with 1,490 undergraduate students currently enrolled, according to the Office of the Dean of the College of Computer and Information Science. With the emphasis the university gives to experiential learning and cooperative education, Northeastern would no doubt try to form a relationship with Amazon as soon as the company opened its doors in Boston. Northeastern has already started a graduate program in Seattle to capitalize on the tech market there, but Amazon coming to Boston would provide opportunities to a larger group of Northeastern tech students.

Amazon may have helped Seattle keep its economy humming with tens of thousands of new jobs, but it also created housing issues that still impact the city. Housing prices have skyrocketed in the city and homelessness is on the rise. These are problems Boston already has and it would be a mistake to think that bringing Amazon into the city would do anything but exacerbate that.

The housing issue is particularly of concern to the college students who could be employed by Amazon. Many students turn to off-campus housing in Boston proper and the greater Boston area. They look for housing that is ideally cheaper than the rising cost of living on their own college campuses and, in doing so, further limit low income housing options for permanent Boston residents. The city has already been dealing with rapid gentrification for more than a decade. Without a plan to deal with housing constraints before Amazon arrives, it can only worsen the issue.

When Amazon arrives it will attract young, educated and mostly male tech workers who will have 一 thanks to Amazon 一 well-paying jobs and the ability to move into the more expensive housing in the city. As they expand, new housing will be needed to accommodate them. But the city must not forget to continue to accommodate those who will still be living in the city without the salary to afford luxury housing. It is important that Boston makes as big an effort to provide low-cost housing to its residents as it puts in to woo Amazon into bringing its second headquarters here.

Amazon establishing itself in Boston is an excellent opportunity for the city, and as a major U.S. city and the heart of New England, it would not make sense for Boston to sit this one out. But if Seattle is any indication, the arrival of Amazon is a double-edged sword and one that Boston must be prepared for.