Georgia formally entered the sweepstakes for Amazon’s second headquarters campus Thursday with a pitch one top leader called “the most aggressive” package the state has ever offered.
Georgia officials were mum about the contents of the state’s bid, but the state’s formal package of information, including possible sites and incentives, has been delivered to the company.
Pat Wilson, the state’s commissioner of economic development, hailed he what called a team effort in crafting a bid for Amazon.
“We couldn’t be more proud of the teamwork and collaboration among our economic development partners in submitting a unified response to Amazon’s RFP,” Wilson said in a statement.
He also couldn’t resist a pun.
“This has been a cooperative effort by the entire region, and we truly believe Metro Atlanta is the "Prime" location for Amazon's HQ2,” he said.
The e-commerce giant kicked off a bidding war among states and cities across North America last month when it announced plans to build “HQ2,” a $5 billion corporate campus it said would rival its Seattle base of operations and will eventually house 50,000 workers.
Today is the deadline for bids.
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In an interview with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed called the effort “the most aggressive economic attraction package that the state of Georgia has ever put forward,” and said his city made offers unlike anything it ever has in the past.
“We make terrific sense for Amazon,” Reed said. “I have complete confidence for the governor’s ability to lead this effort. I think that when everybody hears about Georgia’s proposal, you’re going to see that we left nothing on the table.”
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Reed declined to provide details of the proposal.
“I’m highly confident that this is the most aggressive economic attraction package that the state of Georgia has ever put forward,” Reed said. “From the city side, we have never put what we’ve put on the table, today, in front of any other company in the history of the city … We’ve never put forward the kind of package that we put forward today.
"On the city side alone, we put forth more incentives than we've ever put forward in the history of the city," Reed said. "This is an Olympic moment. … This is a singular moment for Atlanta."
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