Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) is expected to occupy about 6 million square feet by the summer of 2035 in Arlington, according to the incentive agreement between the county and company released to the public Tuesday.
The company would get $23 million over 15 years, as expected. The county’s first payment would come in August 2020, provided Amazon secures at least 64,000 square feet of office space by July 2020. Amazon would need to more than double its square footage in 2021 to 252,800, according to the agreement.
The deal focuses on Amazon meeting size requirements because the county gets most of its money from property taxes, according to Cara O’Donnell, a public relations manager at Arlington Economic Development. The money to pay the e-commerce giant would come from the Transient Occupancy Tax, essentially the county’s tax on hotel room nights.
The deal also requires the county to give Amazon a heads up on public records request so that the company can “take such steps as it deems appropriate with regard to the required disclosure of records and (b) disclose only such records as are subject to mandatory disclosure under VaFOIA or other applicable law or regulation,” the agreement says.
Amazon has suggested that the county incentive dollars could be used for community development, including creating open green spaces.
The county incentives would only be a fraction of the total benefits Amazon would get for following through with HQ2 in Arlington. The state has already approved workforce cash grants of $550 million in return for 25,000 new jobs with an average wage of at least $150,000 each. The company could get an additional $200 million if it adds 12,850 new jobs beyond the initial 25,000.