Now we know what Metro officials offered up in their effort to lure Amazon's HQ2 to Nashville — a 50 percent break on property taxes for 15 years and a $500-per-job cash grant that could have totaled $5 million per year, among other things.
The internet retail behemoth that is well on its way to touching every part of your life — the groceries you buy, the television shows you watch, the robot in your house, etc. — ultimately decided to bring its new major outposts to New York City and Arlington, Va. Nashville was tapped as the new home for the company's Operations Center of Excellence (yes, it's really called that), which will include 5,000 corporate jobs.
Metro officials announced the economic incentives Amazon is receiving for bringing the Center of Excellence here — $102 million in state and local incentives, which include cash grants for new jobs and tax credits. But Mayor David Briley's office had resisted requests — from the Scene and other local news outlets — for the details of the unsuccessful HQ2 bid, which was submitted by his predecessor, former Mayor Megan Barry. The Briley administration cited a "policy" of not releasing the details of incentives deals that do not come to fruition. People with expertise involving public records laws told the Scene that position would not be legally defensible, and the mayor's office seems to have decided it wasn't worth the hassle to try to keep the bid secret.
On Thursday afternoon, the mayor's office reversed course.
"Because disclosing unaccepted offers is not a best practice for business development, the Chamber and City long ago adopted a policy of not doing so," Briley press secretary Thomas Mulgrew said in a written statement. "The offer for HQ2 that was sent to Amazon in September 2017 was, of course, not accepted. However, after Mayor Briley reviewed the original letter and heard the concerns, he has decided in this instance to provide it to media."
You can read the whole offer letter, dated Sept. 10, 2017, that was sent to Amazon here. It makes a general pitch for Nashville — in the striving tone of voice you'd expect — as the sort of booming city a corporation and its employees might like.
"Nashville is prospering, Amazon's employees would love living here and our city and your business would grow well together in this exciting place," reads one line in the letter's opening paragraph.
Not surprisingly, the letter does not make mention of what was then a looming budget crisis.
The screenshot below includes the portion of the letter that details the specific incentives offered to Amazon:
Other cities have released their bids as well. That's how we know, for instance, that Atlanta's offer included an Amazon-dedicated car on MARTA, the city's public transportation system. Charlotte officials say they'll be releasing their bid soon.
