General Electric Moving to Boston

General Electric will move its global headquarters to Boston’s Seaport District, the company announced Wednesday.

The move will create approximately 800 jobs, GE said.

The Boston Globe first reported the move, saying the company informed the mayor and governor of its decision Wednesday morning.

“General Electric’s choice to move to Boston is the result of the city’s willingness and excitement to work creatively and collaboratively to bring positive activity to our local economy and continue to grow our industries,” said Mayor Martin J. Walsh in a statement from his office and Governor Charlie Baker’s.

GE is leaving Fairfield, Conn., where it employs about 800 people. The company balked in June at a state budget that included higher business taxes and said it would consider relocating.

New York and Rhode Island were among a list of 40 potential locations Boston beat out.

“We want to be at the center of an ecosystem that shares our aspirations,” said GE Chairman and CEO Jeff Immelt in a statement released by the company. “Greater Boston is home to 55 colleges and universities. Massachusetts spends more on research & development than any other region in the world, and Boston attracts a diverse, technologically-fluent workforce focused on solving challenges for the world. We are excited to bring our headquarters to this dynamic and creative city.”

GE worked with the the city and state in coming up with an incentives package that includes a city offer of up to $25 million in property tax relief and a state package of up to $120 million of additional benefits.

The city and state are also offering up to $5 million for an innovation center to connect the company to the community, a commitment to improve local transportation in the area, and assistance in helping GE employees in their move to Boston, among other promises.

GE’s Life Sciences is already in Marlborough, and in GE said last year its energy services start-up, Current, would also be stationed in Boston.

The move is another step in the right direction for an area ripe with development.

“It doesn’t surprise me that we came out as well as we did in the competition to get GE coming to Boston,” said Vivien Li, who spent over two decades as president of the Boston Harbor Association before taking the same position at Riverlife in Pittsburgh last year. “I think the branding of the area makes a big difference.”

That branding is the South Boston waterfront’s Innovation District.

The proximity to an international airport in Logan and to MIT and its research labs - “to global markets as well as to innovation”, Li said - can be attractive to a multinational company trying to be on the cutting edge.

The move supports a reputation Massachusetts is getting. Bloomberg this week ranked the state as the country’s most innovative.

GE will have a public briefing with government officials and local leaders Feb. 18.

The move is expected to begin by this summer.

This is a developing story. Refresh this page for more information as it becomes available.