by AP News.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — A Tennessee panel has approved $65 million in state incentives for Oracle Corp. as the company plans to bring 8,500 jobs and an investment topping $1 billion to fast-growing Nashville over the coming decade.
The State Funding Board’s approval of the FastTrack grant came during a meeting Tuesday.
In April, Nashville Mayor John Cooper’s office announced that the Austin, Texas-based computer technology company plans to build the new campus with 1.2 million square feet (111,400 square meters) of office space.
Documents show the jobs will have an average salary of $110,000.
Oracle paid $254 million for 60 acres and is offering $175 million upfront for public infrastructure, including a pedestrian bridge over the Cumberland River, environmental cleanup, a sewer pump station and a riverfront park, the mayor’s office has said.
Half of Oracle’s future property taxes — which the company estimates will be roughly $18 million annually when the project is fully built — would reimburse the company for the upfront investment, without interest payments, with the other half going into the city’s general operating fund, Cooper’s office has said.
The move would surpass the expansion of Amazon, which in 2018 announced it would bring 5,000 jobs through a $230 million investment in a new Nashville operations hub. Oracle relocated its headquarters from Silicon Valley to Austin in 2020.