City Of Stonecrest Proposes New City Of Amazon
Could having its own city lure e-commerce giant Amazon to establish its second headquarters in Georgia? Land from Stonecrest would be used, and the city’s mayor, Jason Lary, says it would be perfect for Amazon.
Paul Sakuma / Associated Press
The city of Stonecrest is less than a year old, but it’s willing to break off 345 acres of itself to create a new city called Amazon, Georgia.
It’s part of its campaign to attract Amazon to build its second headquarters there.
Stonecrest Mayor Jason Lary says his young city would be perfect for Amazon.
“They said — think out of the box. And we thought and thought and thought, and we just came up with, look, you know?” Lary said. “We’re a new city, and we know how to take this process through the General Assembly. How about we offer Amazon their own city within a city?”
So Amazon could have its own mayor, police, firefighters and trash pickup.
“They asked for 100 acres? We have 345. They asked for interstate structure, we have it. Planned transportation? We have it. Proximity to the airport? 25 minutes. And you know the best thing that we have out in this area? Less traffic.”
Mike Alexander with the Atlanta Regional Commission said not already having easy access to a MARTA station could hurt the city of Stonecrest’s bid. Amazon includes easy access to public transit as part of its requirements in its Request for Proposals.
“[The MARTA train stations] don’t exist today, whereas in downtown Atlanta, you’ve got multiple stations already built, and in use,” Alexander said.
Lary said a MARTA train station in nearby Lithonia, which the city of Amazon would be closest to, is expected to be up and running in about six years, which coincides with the timeline of when Amazon would start construction and development.
Alexander said he thinks the Atlanta area overall has a good shot at attracting Amazon because of its access to the airport, tech talent and train service.
The Georgia Department of Economic Development is gathering all of the proposals in the state and said it plans to submit a unified proposal for sites in the state of Georgia to Amazon by the Oct. 19 deadline.
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