The Granite State has caused consternation with its neighbor over its proposal for Amazon’s second headquarters, taking a few digs at Massachusetts. The proposal attempts to discourage the digital commerce tycoon from choosing Boston by pegging the city as a hotbed for traffic congestion, high rent, and high taxes.
“Choose Boston and next year when you leave your tiny $4,000-a-month apartment only to sit in two hours of traffic trying to make your way to an overburdened airport, you’ll be wishing you were in New Hampshire,” the proposal states.
In addition to pointing out Boston’s high rent, Boston’s northern neighbor directly takes shots at Boston’s tax rates.
“If Amazon builds its new facility in Massachusetts, every brick, board, drywall, server, and desk would be subject to the 6.25 percent sales and use tax,” the report says.
Amongst Bostonians, CBS Boston’s political analyst, Jon Keller’s feathers were so ruffled by the proposal that he even decided to write a come-back.
Both states face plenty of competition as Amazon received 238 bids for locating its second headquarters.
New Hampshire’s proposal is filled with plenty of reasons the online retail giant should locate its second headquarters here, including: low taxes, access to a skilled workforce, the state’s commitment to foster STEM education, a rise in housing construction in the Londonderry area, being part of NH’s unique role in national politics as the first-in-the-nation primary, a myriad of cultural and recreational amenities, and the close proximity of Manchester-Boston Regional Airport.
New Hampshire’s proposed site for Amazon is Woodmont Commons in Londonderry. The bid proposal points out the location is is already zoned and “is on a recently-expanded interstate highway to Boston, has its own approved exit, and is ready for HQ2 now.”
“Located in the Boston metro region on the southern border of New Hampshire, Woodmont Commons is a 603-acre urban village, shovel-ready greenfield site that broke ground in August 2017. The site is 10 minutes from Manchester/Boston Regional Airport, 50 minutes to from Boston Logan International Airport, and within 30 miles of 1.7 million people. The site is serviced directly by Interstate 93 that is completing approximately $835 million dollars of infrastructure improvements with a new $48 million dollar exit directly into the campus,” the proposal states. Phase I of the Woodmont Commons site is zoned and permitted for modern residential living with 1,080 phased in apartments, condos, townhouses, as well as office campus space. There will be a wide range of restaurants; retail shops; services and civic amenities, including a hospital, a school, and a hotel; all within walking distance of the residential areas.”
Current Issue - May 2024