In a unanimous vote, state leaders approved a measure to provide approximately $65 million in economic incentives for Oracle, the cloud technology company that provides computing infrastructure and software, to build a new campus in Nashville.
The grant from the state, meant to offset some of the cost of the $1.2 billion investment, was approved from the “Fast Track Economic Fund.”
As a result of the company’s move, the Nashville community is expected to gain nearly 8,500 new jobs with an average salary of $110,000 per year.
The city of Nashville, earlier this year, approved additional incentives for the software company. As a part of the deal, Oracle will provide $175 million to further develop infrastructure around the area, including building a pedestrian bridge linking Germantown and East Nashville, a park, and cleaning up a former landfill on part of the site.
In return, Metro will reimburse part of Oracle’s property tax revenue over the next 25 years, or until the company’s investment is paid off.
Mayor John Cooper celebrated the move, arguing the investment will help Nashville for generations to come.
“Biggest private investment ever. Thousands of jobs. Thousands of digital jobs. It’s flattering that they’re here,” Cooper said. “Now the city needs to get ready for it, not only with infrastructure but also with education so that our kids participate in the digital economy going forward.”
The new investment follows a trend of multiple companies moving to Nashville and Tennessee as a whole.
According to Bob Rolfe, commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development (TNECD), Tennessee is poised for continued economic growth.
“We are poised for greater growth than certainly I’ve experienced in my 4 to 4.5-years experience at ECD,” he said at the beginning of the year.
“What we discovered is part of the conversation part of the narrative is to convince a company that we are open to business; we have the most pro-business friendly agenda; we have a workforce that will work for that company.”
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Cooper Moran is a reporter for The Star News Network. Follow Cooper on Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
