In Nashville, Will Amazon Overpromise and Under-Deliver?

A transparency measure passed last year in Nashville has unlocked new information about Amazon’s plan to build an operations center there, including hints that the company may not fulfill its employee salary promises. The document, which also reveals Amazon’s local hiring projections, offers the clearest look yet at Amazon’s employment plans in an HQ2 city. And as Nashville’s Metro Council prepares to vote on the city’s incentive package on Tuesday, advocates are hoping to use it to push them to defer approval, and organize a public hearing with Amazon.

In its November public announcement, Amazon pledged it would build a 1-million square foot “Operations Center of Excellence” in downtown Nashville, investing more than $230 million in the city and hiring 5,000 full-time workers paid “an average wage of over $150,000.” In the more detailed resolution released this week, Amazon reaffirmed those commitments, and for the first time provided a breakdown of what the positions might look like. The majority of the jobs (3,000) are projected to be in business and financial operations, and 40 percent of the total jobs are expected to be held by “residents of Davidson County.”