Mayor Walsh Wooing Amazon to Locate New Headquarters in Boston

By Phil Orlandella

One of the sites that Boston Mayor Martin J. Walsh and Revere Mayor Brian Arrigo are wooing Amazon to move their second corporate headquarters is to Suffolk Downs in East Boston and Revere, the same site that got shot down for a major casino.

In partnership the two cities have formally filed a proposal in response to Amazon’s request for proposal for a second headquarters at the racetrack site.

The proposal also suggested potential sites in many other Boston neighborhoods, all of which have been identified for growth in Imagine Boston 2030 plan.

The sites are located in South Boston’s Waterfront and downtown Boston’s South End, Back Bay, Roxbury, Widett Circle and Allston/Brighton to South Station.

Any site chosen will be required to go through local permitting and a community process with proposals.

The Boston/Revere proposal invites Amazon to engage with the cities as a long-term partner is supporting workforce training, innovation and small businesses among other potential opportunities for collaboration.

Suffolk Downs (160-acres) is featured in the proposal as a single owner, transit-friendly site that is close to the waterfront, the airport and downtown and served by two exciting Blue Line stations.

The site has been identified in Imagine Boston 2030 as a transformational opportunity for a new mixed-use, mixed-income neighborhood with significant potential for investment in the City of Boston and Revere and potential flexibility to revolve with the ever-changing need of the company.

Amazon claims the company expects to invest over $5 billion in construction and growth that will include as many as 50,000 high-paying jobs over the next 15 years, in addition to tens of thousands of additional jobs and tens of billions of dollars in investment in the surrounding community.

The proposal does not include a specific offer of tax incentives, and instead communicates the availability of these tools. The city uses local property tax incentives when projects face specific challenges or create unique opportunities to providing significant new jobs and investment in underdeveloped areas.

The appropriateness of incentives is determined by the unique details of individual projects.

“We are excited to present the best of Boston to Amazon, with support from leaders in educational, business and philanthropic, communities and our neighbors in Revere, as the company considers locations for their second corporate headquarters in North America,” Mayor Walsh said. “Boston is a thriving city and we invite Amazon to grow with us.”

            The proposal underscores how Boston is experiencing an economic and population boom, with approximately 742,000 residents projected to live in the City of Boston by 2030.