$5.7B Incentive Couldn't Bring Amazon To Philadelphia

PHILADELPHIA – It's old news now that Philadelphia was not chosen for Amazon's HQ2 and that New York and Northern Virginia were selected. Apparently roughly $5.5 billion in incentives from the city and the commonwealth were not enough to entice the Seattle-based online retailer.

The city's bid to get Amazon featured $1.1 billion in tax breaks over 20 years, according to city documents. The offer from Pennsylvania included $4.6 billion in financial assistance, which included up to $4.5 billion through a new performance-based grant program and $100 million to support state transportation improvements, per letters from state officials to Amazon.

According to New York Magazine, Amazon got a nearly $3 billion deal for choosing NYC and the Washington Post reports Virginia and Arlington gave away $573 million to get Amazon.

Per Philly.com, the city's proposal cost about $460,000 to put together. The outlet reports just $60,000 came from private sources.

Three potential locations – Schuylkill Yards, uCity Square in University City, and the Navy Yard – were floated as the HQ2 home.

"While Philadelphia was not ultimately chosen for Amazon's HQ2, I thank Amazon for its consideration and am honored that we were among the top contenders," Mayor Jim Kenney said Tuesday when the decision was announced. "I also recognize the value of this competitive process, which has benefited our city in many ways. It put Philadelphia in the national (and international) spotlight – increasing our visibility to other companies and showing our viability for other large-scale projects." It also required key stakeholders from various sectors to come together like never before and unite around a shared message and strategy for our city. I am hopeful that we will continue to harness the energy found throughout this process and apply it to future business attraction, retention, and expansion efforts in Philadelphia."

Amazon said it will invest $5 billion and create more than 50,000 jobs across the two new headquarters locations, with more than 25,000 employees each in New York City and Arlington. The new locations will join Seattle as the company's three headquarters in North America.

AP Photo/Elaine Thompson