Massachusetts Ponies Up $20M To Seal Amazon’s Seaport Deal
Massachusetts will offer its own set of incentives for Amazon's Seaport expansion on top of ones provided by the city of Boston, Gov. Charlie Baker’s administration announced Tuesday.
The Seattle-based company confirmed earlier in the week it was bringing at least 2,000 jobs to the Seaport in a WS Development building that will begin construction this year. The state will spend $20M to bring the company to Seaport Square.
The amount is what the developer had agreed last year to spend on transportation enhancements at the development, but now the money will come from the public sector, the Boston Globe reports.
Amazon has already received a $5M tax break from Boston for the project. Any savings WS will make from the state taking over the $20M transportation improvements will likely be passed along to Amazon in the form of lower rent.
The $20M will go to projects like protected bike lanes, pedestrian crossings and new sidewalks on Summer and Congress streets. It will also go to a new entryway to the Silver Line’s Courthouse Station, the developer touted at Bisnow’s Seaport event earlier this year. WS is still responsible for Seaport Boulevard improvements, $2M in design funding for the Northern Avenue Bridge, funding for a ferry service and a Silver Line passenger capacity study.
