In a script for Gov. Bill Haslam to read on camera -- prepared in 2011 by his Department of Economic and Community Development -- a most unusual offer was drafted to try to entice retail giant Sears to relocate its corporate headquarters to Tennessee.
The Sears effort was dubbed "Project Neptune."
"We're so committed to making your new home in Tennessee that we are prepared to offer you one of the premiere buildings in Nashville's thriving downtown," the script read.
"Our state office building, the Tennessee Tower, can be an instantaneous and immediate home for Project Neptune's corporate headquarters. This highly visible and historic building offers over 600,000 square feet of prime office space -- located conveniently across from Legislative Plaza and a stone's throw away from my office in the state Capitol."
Obscene corporate welfare is in no short supply here in Nashville, regardless of how strapped government budgets are.
A couple notes: It didn't happen. Either it wasn't proposed or it was proposed and Sears didn't take TN up on it, presumably because the benefits of staying put were worth more.
ReplyDeleteTwo: Sears? Are they still in business.
Three: Nissan and Dell. With Phil Bredesen as governor in 2005, nearly $200,000,000 for less than 1,300 direct jobs at Nissan. $160 million for Dell in 199 for 3000 anticipated jobs.
This is all to say - this is a government/corporate issue, not a partisan issue; the numbers for Sears don't look as outlandish when compared to precedent; Nissan's move seems to have worked out well for TN; I don't have that same impression with the Dell move - I haven't kept up with it, but in my mind I remember us getting stiffed by Dell - I've been wrong before, though.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=aOLdoiTLBMUs