Amazon lost out on a chance for its own dedicated train car to deliver products throughout the city of Atlanta.
Newly released details of the city's pitch to host Amazon's second headquarters show the city offered to "explore the possibility of adding an Amazon-dedicated car to the MARTA train," the city's mass transit system. The offer would've been contingent on the MARTA board's approval.
Georgia also offered an exclusive lounge for Amazon HQ2 employees in the Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport for one year on top of 50 free parking spots.
Atlanta was one of the 20 finalists on Amazon's list of cities it was considering for its HQ2. On Tuesday, the company announced it would split its headquarters between two locations: Long Island City in New York and National Landing, an area of Arlington, Va. For the past year, cities across the continent have tried to lure Amazon to their area to win the company's promise to invest $5 billion and bring 50,000 jobs.
Critics have said the investment may not be worth it, pointing to $2.2 billion in performance-based incentives Amazon was offered from its three new locations (including an Operations Center for Excellence in Nashville, Tenn.) and myriad stunts by politicians hoping to woo the company.
According to the Atlanta proposal, the MARTA board agreed to allocate a portion of the sales tax that goes toward the train system to "enhancing employee access to the Amazon HQ2 site," depending on its location.
