Amazon Distribution Center Incentives Comparison (Birmingham, Huntsville: sales, real estate, houses)

[bfmx1]

Looks like Birmingham got screwed here. The comment in the article asks a very good question...

For the past several weeks all I read is how the city won by scoring Amazon's approval for a fulfillment center and some even said that it was a direct result of the HQ2 bid which is laughable.

But looking at these figures, I don't think I would be jumping with joy seeing that we're paying double to ten times (!) what other metros are paying for the same building.

It's obsurd that the Bessemer or Birmingham city council allowed itself to get screwed like this then praised.


https://comebacktown.com/2018/07/24/...op-being-last/

[bfmx1]

According to the BBJ, “Amazon built more than a dozen fulfillment centers that are exactly 855,000 square feet – the same square footage as the Bessemer project that will employ at least 1,500 and possibly up to 3,000. Employment estimates were generally within that range for other 855,000-square-foot facilities.”

Estimated incentives for like fulfillment centers according to BBJ

Fresno, California $30 million
North Haven, Connecticut $25 million
Romulus, Michigan $18.5 million
Etna, Ohio $19 million
Sacramento, California $1.7 million
Houston, Texas $7 million
Opa-locka, Florida $6.5 million
Salt Lake City, Utah $5.6 million
San Marcos, Texas $11 million
Bessemer, Alabama $51 million

"I have a friend who is president of a company active in real estate development throughout the Southeast. He says when his company builds in Florida; his company is required to pay for the infrastructure. That is the opposite of Alabama where our government has to pay companies to build.

The difference is Florida can be choosy about economic development—we can’t."

These are things that must be addressed! Not just on a website called comebacktown.com that almost nobody reads.

[jero23]

You know this is common in most Southern states to provide incentives to the get things. Yeah, in Alabama there is currently no jurisdiction with an impact fee ordinance on the books. Impact fees are the fees enforced by jurisdictions to require developers to pay for their own infrastructure. So unless the Alabama Constitution is amended to allow all jurisdictions (cities, towns, and counties) the authority to enforce such regulations via home rule then this will not be addressed and remain.

Birmingham and Jefferson County have considered impact fees, but the only like one to push it forward will be Birmingham since it is the only Class A, full home rule municipality in the state. The property being developed for the DC BLOX site was a brownfield site that was jointly owned by Birmingham and Jefferson County. Also the DC BLOX data center paid the City of Birmingham $600,000 which is being used for the Neighborhood Revitalization Funds for 100 houses in 100 days owner-occupied home rehab program.

If you read up on anything that occurs in Huntsville, it's the same thing, so blame the Alabama Constitution.

[_OT]

Spend money, to make money.

What's the problem here? lol it's Alabama for crying out loud.

[RocketDawg]

Originally Posted by jero23

You know this is common in most Southern states to provide incentives to the get things. Yeah, in Alabama there is currently no jurisdiction with an impact fee ordinance on the books. Impact fees are the fees enforced by jurisdictions to require developers to pay for their own infrastructure. So unless the Alabama Constitution is amended to allow all jurisdictions (cities, towns, and counties) the authority to enforce such regulations via home rule then this will not be addressed and remain.

Birmingham and Jefferson County have considered impact fees, but the only like one to push it forward will be Birmingham since it is the only Class A, full home rule municipality in the state. The property being developed for the DC BLOX site was a brownfield site that was jointly owned by Birmingham and Jefferson County. Also the DC BLOX data center paid the City of Birmingham $600,000 which is being used for the Neighborhood Revitalization Funds for 100 houses in 100 days owner-occupied home rehab program.

If you read up on anything that occurs in Huntsville, it's the same thing, so blame the Alabama Constitution.

Don't know about other things currently announced for Huntsville, but I believe I read the incentive package for Mazda/Toyota was in the neighborhood of $380M. Of course, nobody's writing them a check for that amount; it's infrastructure improvements, and probably most of all, tax relief for a certain period of time. The money will be recovered by supportive companies locating because of the central company, sales and income tax of employees, etc. Overall, I think it's a good deal for the city and state, even though some other states (e.g., Florida) don't have to do it, at least to that extreme. The Amazon center should be the same.

[steveklein]

Originally Posted by bfmx1

Looks like Birmingham got screwed here. The comment in the article asks a very good question...

For the past several weeks all I read is how the city won by scoring Amazon's approval for a fulfillment center and some even said that it was a direct result of the HQ2 bid which is laughable.

But looking at these figures, I don't think I would be jumping with joy seeing that we're paying double to ten times (!) what other metros are paying for the same building.

It's obsurd that the Bessemer or Birmingham city council allowed itself to get screwed like this then praised.


https://comebacktown.com/2018/07/24/...op-being-last/

Let's not forget that only did a certain poster imply this, but also made it sound like anyone who dared say the HQ2 recruitment was wasteful was an idiot.

With that being said, yeah, it does suck. I'm not really sure how we fix that though. If we offered them half the incentives they could just pass and then what?

I hate corporate welfare, but if we want to play the game, those are the rules.

[carpe777]

Originally Posted by bfmx1

Looks like Birmingham got screwed here. The comment in the article asks a very good question...

For the past several weeks all I read is how the city won by scoring Amazon's approval for a fulfillment center and some even said that it was a direct result of the HQ2 bid which is laughable.

But looking at these figures, I don't think I would be jumping with joy seeing that we're paying double to ten times (!) what other metros are paying for the same building.

It's obsurd that the Bessemer or Birmingham city council allowed itself to get screwed like this then praised.


https://comebacktown.com/2018/07/24/...op-being-last/

Yeah, it's a good thing for the area but isn't the panacea or great catch everyone is making it out to be ( there are already 150 of these centers across the country and at least 10 already in surrounding States ).

Having said that, Birmingham IS an attractive distribution center city for purely logistical reasons ( among other reasons ), so they (Bessemer/BHM, Jefferson County, State, whomever ) should have been able to negotiate better.

Carpe