In hopes of creating and preserving jobs in Boston, city officials recently proposed a deal with JPMorgan Chase & Co. In exchange for $4 million in tax breaks, the company would move from downtown to South Boston’s rapidly growing waterfront area. Half of the money used to provide the incentive will come from subsidies meant to aid in rehabilitating struggling areas and the other half will come from $2 million worth of tax reductions at the state level.
Officials say that they decided to offer these incentives after they heard that there was a possibility of JPMorgan leaving the area when the lease on its downtown location ends next year. Had the company decided to relocate to another city, there would have been 726 Boston jobs lost.
They also admitted that this agreement may be a little unorthodox, considering that JPMorgan made approximately $2.4 billion from January to March of this year. Nevertheless, officials maintained that this was the best way to entice JPMorgan to stay in Boston and to get a financial services company into the South Boston waterfront area. Considering the fact that it has been noted that this industry is suffering nationwide, these jobs in Boston are much needed.
Ron Rakow, the city’s Assessor, says that this type of deal isn’t done very often, but that he believes that the circumstances made these incentives necessary. He added ended by saying that he doesn’t foresee any issues with the terms.
JPMorgan’s managing director, Dan Kramer, says that the company is considering the South Boston location along with several other properties in the suburbs, although he declined to say where. Kramer says that the incentives would be “a key determinant in our decision as we negotiate the terms of the lease.” Company executives also said that they had considered moving this particular operation outside of Massachusetts, but ultimately decided to stay in the state largely due to the quality of the workforce.
JPMorgan already has expectations of creating as may as 400 new jobs in Boston during the next few years.
Tags: Boston Jobs