The San Diego County Board of Supervisors today voted to send a letter to Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos indicating a strong interest and willingness to explore possible incentives for the company if it builds its second headquarters in the region.
The vote was unanimous with Supervisor Greg Cox saying the new headquarters could be built in unincorporated areas of the county. No mention was made as to what the incentives could be.
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Amazon's mega-project has been a magnet for cities, states, provinces and counties that see the economic boost the online retail giant's headquarters would bring to their localities.
The company plans to spend more than $5 billion on what it calls HQ2, which would provide 50,000 new high-paying jobs and support thousands of construction and other related positions. That's about 15,000 more jobs than the region's life sciences industry, a key economic sector, according to a county staff report.
Amazon already has a large presence in San Diego after leasing more than 100,000 square feet of office space in University City.
But San Diego has stiff competition in the bidding war. New Jersey is working on legislation that would provide $5 billion in tax breaks and the City Council in Stonecrest, Georgia, near Atlanta, voted to de-annex 345 acres of land and call it the city of Amazon if the company moves in. Los Angeles and Irvine have expressed interest as well.
The local bid is being coordinated by the San Diego Regional Economic Development Corp.
Amazon is expected to announce a winner next year.
