On its Suffolk Downs bet
The Boston bid does not include any specific tax incentives, but says the city is open to discussion.
and highly trained workforce. It also offers the city as a potential testing ground for Amazon projects such as drone deliveries or self-driving cars, city officials said.
At Suffolk Downs, the bid proposes a retail section where Amazon could test concepts, such as its brickand-mortar bookstore or next-generation grocery store that tallies customers’ bills as they take food off the shelf. The bid mentions the city’s food technology startups — Amazon recently started its own meal-delivery service — and pitches Berklee College of Music as a potential gold mine of talent for Amazon’s television and movie arm.
“We wanted to say to them, we know your business, we know how you’re trying to grow your business,” Barros said.
Boston’s proposal for Suffolk Downs includes as many as 10,000 housing units and 40 acres of open space. The city is also pitching the former Boston Flower Exchange, South Station and the South Boston waterfront as alternative sites, though none of those could fit Amazon’s entire headquarters.
Corporate relocation expert Thomas Stringer told the Herald, “Boston’s an interesting location — it hits right on the ability to supply the requisite talent base,” Stringer said. “But from a cost perspective, the Northeast, New York, Boston, Connecticut, is a challenge.”
Mark Melnick, director of the UMass Donahue Institute, said, “With or without Amazon, there are questions of long-range investments in transportation and housing costs in the region. It’s going to take careful planning.”