The City of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County offered $270 million in incentives to try and land an Amazon headquarters here, but public records show economic leaders considered offering as much as $324 million.
From the beginning, those behind Charlotte's push to lure an Amazon headquarters maintained it was about more than just the money, but in the end, the amount offered set a new record as far as incentive packages locally.
The city and county would have paid out the $270 million over 15 years, according to the incentive letter sent to Amazon last year.
Amazon planned on investing $5 billion and creating 50,000 high paying jobs in the process, so leaders said they responded accordingly with a competitive package.
Our review of public records related to Amazon show officials dubbed the economic package "Project Flash." It included more than two dozen possible locations for a headquarters.
Most of those possible sites were in Mecklenburg County, but Cabarrus, Cleveland, Gaston, Iredell, Rowan and York counties were also represented, according to public records.
City emails show leaders received more positive than negative feedback, but a couple taxpayers emailed city council members discouraging an incentive deal.
"Please, no special deals for Amazon," one person wrote.
"Unless your God is money, vote against making any offer to Amazon," another said.
Amazon ultimately cited Charlotte's lack of a tech talent pool, not the money, as a reason for passing up the Queen City. The company instead opted to split its headquarters between New York City and Northern Virginia.
The New York Times reported those states collectively offered "more than $2 billion in tax credits, rebates and other incentives to attract the company."