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Worcester Says It Would Offer $500 Million To Lure Amazon

Downtown Worcester looking west on Front Street. (Jesse Costa/WBUR)
Downtown Worcester looking west on Front Street. (Jesse Costa/WBUR)

Worcester is prepared to offer Amazon hundreds of millions of dollars in incentives to lure the retail giant's second headquarters to the central Massachusetts city.

In its newly released 60-page bid, Worcester says it can offer Amazon up to $500 million in local real estate tax savings, along with a 100 percent personal property tax exemption over 20 years, as well as other tax credits for investment, and research and development.

In September, Amazon announced it expects to invest over $5 billion constructing a second headquarters. It invited cities and metro areas to submit proposals, and said bids are due by October 19.

Worcester's proposed site for Amazon encompasses 98 acres surrounding Route 20.

The city is touting its relatively low cost of housing, and tech talent from local colleges.

"I think as people learn more about Worcester and central Massachusetts, they realize there's a value, there's an accessibility to all of New England that is not easily matched or cannot be matched," Tim Murray, president and CEO of Worcester Regional Chamber of Commerce, told WBUR in an earlier interview about his city's forthcoming proposal.

As we've previously reported, about a dozen cities across Massachusetts, including Boston, have told WBUR they plan to bid for Amazon's second headquarters, and the state is declining to get behind one proposal.

With reporting by WBUR's Benjamin Swasey and the Newscast Unit

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