AMZN Amazon.com Inc

By Keiko Morris and Mike Vilensky 

New Jersey is making a high-dollar pitch for Newark to become Amazon.com Inc.'s second headquarters, offering up to $7 billion in state and city tax incentives.

Republican Gov. Chris Christie joined Newark Mayor Ras Baraka and Sen. Cory Booker, both Democrats, in Newark on Monday to tout the city's progress over the last decade and highlight its transportation options, half-dozen educational institutions, technology infrastructure and businesses that have made Newark home.

Mr. Christie said that the state had selected Newark as the "best" and only location for Amazon's second headquarters.

In September Amazon said it would find a second corporate headquarters in North America and solicit proposals from cities around the country. That has set off a nationwide competition among municipal leaders to land the company's new home, which could create up to 50,000 jobs.

Initial proposals are due Thursday.

New Jersey is offering Amazon $5 billion in tax incentives over the next 10 years and upon the creation of 50,000 jobs, Mr. Christie said. In addition, the city of Newark is offering a property tax abatement potentially worth $1 billion and potentially another $1 billion that Amazon's new Newark workers would gain over 20 years from the city waiving its local wage tax, the governor said.

"Let any state go and try to beat that package along with what we have offered here in Newark," Mr. Christie said.

In New York, meanwhile, business leaders Monday urged Amazon to put its next headquarters in the five boroughs, even as the city's liberal advocacy groups came out against tax incentives to lure the giant online retailer.

The Partnership for New York City, a nonprofit promoting economic-development, sent a letter to Amazon touting the city's benefits. The letter was also provided to New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio and New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, both Democrats.

The letter lists data showing the city's high number of college and professional school graduates, universities, and high-earning companies.

"[New York City] features unparalleled diversity of industry talent and institutional resources," it said, "all of which would enhance Amazon's prodigious strengths and generate new opportunities to grow."

The chairman of IAC and the chief executives of Citigroup Inc. and Morgan Stanley are among the dozens of signatories from the city's business world.

Not everyone in New York City is as enthusiastic about the idea. Advocacy groups wrote a letter to Messrs. de Blasio and Cuomo raising concerns about wooing Amazon.

"You should focus on pushing Amazon to be a better corporate citizen and improving how it treats workers," the letter said. "You should also...work to ensure that this multi-billion dollar company does not receive financial incentives simply for doing business here."

Signatories on that letter included many of the mayor's political allies, including the public-education group Alliance for Quality Education, the immigrant-advocacy group Make the Road New York, and housing group the Association for Neighborhood and Housing Development.

A spokesperson for Amazon didn't comment.

Write to Keiko Morris at Keiko.Morris@wsj.com and Mike Vilensky at mike.vilensky@dowjones.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

October 16, 2017 18:22 ET (22:22 GMT)

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