Globe: GE has picked Boston

General Electric, one of the best known companies in corporate America, is moving its headquarters from suburban CT to Boston, the company announced Wednesday. To appeal to GE’s new direction, Boston offers access to major research universities such as Harvard, Boston University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

“The potential impact over those 20 years would be $260 million, a little bit more than 10 times the total tax incentives that we are providing GE at this point”, Barros said.

Mr. Lanza said GE’s departure was unlikely to create a big hole in Connecticut’s budget, and the state would retain the same advantages it had used to recruit companies in the past, including its proximity to both New York City and Boston, along with a well-educated workforce.

Also helping make the move pencil out is incentives of up to $120 million through grants and other programs offered by MA, and property tax relief valued at up to $25 million offered by the city of Boston.

By packing up from a sleepy CT suburb the company is also tapping into an urbanization trend taking root with younger Americans, enabling it to attract engineers and executives who might be considering jobs in New York City and San Francisco. Its new home will be built in Boston’s Seaport District, with the full move to be completed by 2018. A spokesman said approximately 800 people are employed at the Fairfield headquarters. He said the relocation has “nothing to do with taxes or even business costs and shouldn’t be seen as a referendum on Connecticut’s economy”.

The specifics on which GE employees will move where have not yet been made public.

General Electric is moving its world headquarters from Fairfield, Connecticut, to Boston’s Seaport District. “He said he’s uncertain how far that will go in getting Republicans elected, but he thinks they can get some traction from this for the upcoming legislative session”.

The move is part of an attempt to rebrand the old company – started in 1892 with Thomas Edison as a founder – as a digital leader and not merely the world’s largest industrial company.

Although the tax breaks are generous, they were not the key reasons for GE’s choice of Boston. “Equally important, GE will continue to work with and support many smaller businesses throughout our state”.

GE had a strong year.

The Journal story, which was based on a source close to GE, did not identify which politicians the company was upset with. They note that CT will remain the top state for Fortune 500 company headquarters per million residents, home to 16 headquarters including Aetna, United Technologies and Xerox. GE made it clear to Malloy that if he pushed his $1.2 billion tax hike on business, they would leave.

GE has approximately 5,700 employees in CT.

GE did take a lot of heat for the request, and eventually withdrew it. And the GE aircraft engine plant remains today in Lynn (though I couldn’t find any details on whether the threatened layoffs ever happened).

Connecticut’s General Assembly later passed a revised budget that scaled back some of the business-related tax increases after other companies including Aetna Inc. and the Travelers Companies Inc. criticized changes included in the state budget.

Romano said that Aetna, Travelers and Stanley Works share GE’s concerns about CT.