Bids of Amazonian size

There were no promises to create a Colorado city called Amazon. There were no bribes from the state like the 21-foot cactus an Arizona city sent to get the massive retailer to build a second headquarters there. And there was no way Colorado was going to touch one state’s lavish offer of $7 billion in public incentives.

Colorado, which doesn’t plan to ask taxpayers for more funding to lure Amazon, on Wednesday submitted a more subdued proposal that state officials hope will attract a new employer and bring up to 50,000 jobs to the Denver region. The state emailed the official bid a day before Amazon’s deadline, as well as mailed five paper copies overnight to the Seattle retailer’s headquarters.

“Colorado’s proposal does not lead with incentives. It leads with talent,” said Sam Bailey, who led the Metro Denver Economic Development Corp. in working with the state to submit the official bid. “Ultimately, 50,000 jobs shouldn’t be led with incentives but a community that has the resources to support it.”

The state offered Amazon the usual public incentives: its Strategic Fund Incentive, which set aside about $10 million to recruit large employers, and its Job Growth Incentive Tax Credit, which has no cap. But because Amazon declined to share how it would ramp up hiring over 10 to 15 years, Bailey said the state cannot make accurate calculations. However, based on the past, state performance-based incentives could be “in excess of $100 million,” he said.

Amazon, which would need state approvals on incentives, would also only collect the credits if it actually hires workers within certain time limits, which is usually eight years. Amazon has said it could hire 50,000 people at its “HQ2” over a 10- to 15-year period.

“Based on projections, net new jobs and wages, the incentives that the company may apply and be eligible for could be in excess of $100 million in performancebased tax credits,” Bailey said. “The disclaimer is that we do not have a defined amount. It’s subject to further due diligence.”

Colorado took a unified approach to Amazon’s request, by vetting 400 documents from cities and counties interested in hosting Amazon’s HQ2. The state picked eight urban and suburban sites that met Amazon’s request-for-proposal, or RFP, requirements and pitched all of them equally.

Citing a nondisclosure agreement with Amazon, economic development officials have declined to divulge the final sites forwarded in the proposal. Another rea- son for the tight lips: Colorado has lost major headquarters before amid competition and discord among local cities, and officials wanted to avoid that this time. While many cities and states vying for Amazon’s HQ2 have not released details, others have been less discreet.

Developers have named as possible contenders the burgeoning River North neighborhood in Denver; the area southwest of interstates 70 and 25; undeveloped land near Denver International Airport; the former StorageTek/Phillips 66 campus in Louisville; the former Gates Rubber plant at South Broadway and I-25 in Denver; and the parking lots at Elitch Gardens and Pepsi Center near downtown.

Because of Amazon’s requirements — including a location within a 45-minute drive to an international airport — several cities in Colorado were immediately eliminated as primary sites, including Colorado Springs, Durango and Grand Junction.

Unlike those publicizing billion-dollar incentives, Colorado pushed lifestyle, workforce and benefits.

“We all have the understanding that Colorado can offer Amazon a complete package. We don’t have to compensate with some of the things that other cities are offering. We have a high quality of life, a highly educated workforce, and, of course, we meet the criteria of the RFP,” said Andrea Tilliss, marketing manager for Aurora Economic Development Council, which has no idea whether its sites got into the official state proposal. “This is one unique thing Colorado has and Aurora has. We do not put bags of money on the table and push it across and say, ‘Go.'”

If Amazon cares only about the amount of taxpayer incentives for HQ2, Newark, N.J. will probably win. On Monday, it offered a $7 billion package.