GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — The City of Grand Rapids didn’t make the shortlist for Amazon’s highly sought-after second headquarters, but it wasn’t for a lack of trying.
On Thursday, economic development group The Right Place released details of the tax incentives that were offered to the online retail giant to try to lure “HQ2” to West Michigan.
The proposal included three different sites with varying tax savings over 30 years.
The largest tax break topped $2 billion for the now-vacant space where General Motors’ former stamping plant used to sit off 36th Street in Wyoming.
The tax breaks would have reached nearly $1.7 billion had Amazon set up on empty land near the Gerald R. Ford International Airport, and the company could’ve saved nearly $800 million in taxes at a downtown Grand Rapids location.
The Right Place said in a release the incentives were performance-based, so Amazon would’ve needed to meet program requirements.
The company is promising a major economic boost with HQ2: a $5 billion investment and 50,000 jobs over the next 15 years. That’s three times bigger than Grand Rapids biggest employer, Spectrum Health.
In January, the final 20 cities were named. Neither Grand Rapids nor Detroit made the cut. It’s unclear exactly what Detroit was offering.