Somerville’s Collaborative Amazon HQ2 Proposal

The City of Somerville is pleased to present a collaborative “Amazon on the T” proposal inviting Amazon to establish its second corporate headquarters along the transit lines that link our adjacent Greater Boston communities.

What and where?

This is a smart-growth, regional, multi-city proposal. It promotes a collection of mixed-use sites that would spark not just office development, but also affordable and market-rate housing, retail, and R&D, directly adjacent to existing and coming MBTA Orange, Green, and Silver line stops in Somerville, Cambridge, Boston, Everett, Chelsea, and Medford.

Incentives:

• Our region is the incentive: With our world-class universities, diverse quality workforce, exceptional transit access, thriving arts and culture hub, and mixed-use permitted sites, we are certain that the opportunity to join and invest in our dynamic communities will be the primary incentive for Amazon.
• Existing state and local incentives available to all are noted: The proposal includes only existing State-level incentives and financing programs already available from the Commonwealth such as the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Economic Development Incentive Program Credits (EDIPC) or District Improvement Financing (DIF), as well as the City’s brownfields cleanup loan program. (See page 40.)
• We also offer an incentive with deeper value than tax credits: We invite Amazon not just to set up shop here, but to become a partner in our long-range community vision for a sustainable, equitable, and opportunity-filled future for all who live here. Essentially, we offer an exceptionally promising opportunity for Amazon to set a new standard for corporate citizenship. (See the Mayor’s introductory letter.)

Sites details:

• The sites are woven into the dense and diverse fabric of their surrounding neighborhoods and are interconnected with the region’s world-renowned technology and higher education clusters.
• The majority of sites included in the initial build-out are pre-permitted and shovel-ready.
• Two options for phase one are presented:
  • A series of sites located along the Orange Line provides an initial build-out of up to 8.3M commercial square feet.
  • A series of sites located along the Green Line, providing an initial 8M commercial square feet.
• An additional 3.8 million square feet is presented for possible expansion.

To review the full proposal, please visit: Somervillema.gov/Amazon