Hide Transcript Show Transcript WEBVTT state. Now, the company has scrapped plans for that new HQs-- and with the help of MassDevelopment , will sell the property to reimburse the state for 87 million in tax incentives. GE announced their massive expansion plan 2 years ago.. Broke ground in May 2017-- but since Then company has struggled.. Dropped from the DOW JONES after more than a century. A new CEO took the helm last October.. And has been aggressively streamlining the corporation. For Boston-- that means a revised plan of 250 jobs.. moving into 2 brick buildings- the former Necco candy factory. That's slightly more than the number of GE employees already based here. In a statement-- GE officials said "While changes in the company's portfolio and operating model will lead to a smaller corporate headquarters, we are fully committed to Boston and proud to call it home." GE has not and now will not receive any incentives from the city.. Mayor Walsh putting a positive spin on the situation .. Saying "General Electric chose Boston because it is a thriving city with a talented and diverse workforce,,, I look forward to our continued Partnership" The Governor's office.. Whic helped negotiate the plan to put the Fort Point property on the market .. Says it expects the sale price will easily exceed the money owed to the state. Advertisement General Electric scraps plans for new headquarters building, will reimburse state for incentives State to receive $87 million or more Share Shares Copy Link Copy More than two years after General Electric announced plans to move to Boston, the struggling company is scrapping plans for a new headquarters building. It plans to sell the property and use the proceeds to reimburse the state for grants and incentives used to lure the company to Massachusetts.GE and MassDevelopment have reached an agreement to sell the Fort Point Channel property, including the two former Necco buildings and the parcel on which GE had planned to build a 12-story office tower. Board members for MassDevelopment unanimously approved the plan Thursday. GE will be staying in Boston, however. The company said it plans to become a tenant in the two Necco buildings and move approximately 250 employees into the space. That's down from the 800 jobs GE had planned to bring to Boston. The company also pledged to continue its work on the planned public spaces on the property, which include the Harborwalk and a public dock. “We are looking forward to moving into our permanent headquarters space in the refurbished Necco brick buildings later this year," said Ann R. Klee, GE's vice president for Boston development and operations. "While changes in the company’s portfolio and operating model will lead to a smaller corporate headquarters, we are fully committed to Boston and proud to call it home.”Sale of the Fort Point Channel property is expected to net at least $87.37 million. According to Gov. Charlie Baker's office, that money will reimburse the state for MassWork grant funds used for the original purchase of the property and other investments in the refurbishment of the existing buildings. Any additional revenue from the sale will be split evenly between the state and the company, Baker's office said. GE's stock was worth about $28 in January 2016, when the company announced plans to bring its headquarters to Boston. The stock value dipped below $10 during trading Thursday. “The Baker-Polito administration is proud that General Electric chose to relocate the company’s world headquarters to Massachusetts and looks forward to GE’s ongoing contribution to the growing innovation economy," said Lizzy Guyton, Gov. Baker's communications director. "The administration together with MassDevelopment reached an agreement with GE for the company to fully reimburse the commonwealth for the cost and expenses associated with the Necco Street project and the administration looks forward to working with GE as the company grows its world headquarters here in Boston.”GE currently has about 5,000 employees in Massachusetts, which is roughly the same number it had before the move was announced in 2016.<doc-sep>NYC and Boston were handed huge setbacks this week when Amazon and GE decided to bail on their commitments to build headquarters in the respective cities on the same day. But it’s worth pointing out that while these large tech organizations were pulling out, Google was expanding in both locations. Yesterday, upon hearing about Amazon’s decision to scrap its HQ2 plans in Long Island City, New York City Mayor de Blasio had this to say: “Instead of working with the community, Amazon threw away that opportunity. We have the best talent in the world and every day we are growing a stronger and fairer economy for everyone. If Amazon can’t recognize what that’s worth, its competitors will.” One of them already has. Google had already announced a billion-dollar expansion in Hudson Square at the end of last year. In fact, the company is pouring billions into NYC real estate, with plans to double its 7,000-person workforce over the next 10 years. As TechCrunch’s Jon Russell reported, “Our investment in New York is a huge part of our commitment to grow and invest in U.S. facilities, offices and jobs. In fact, we’re growing faster outside the Bay Area than within it, and this year opened new offices and data centers in locations like Detroit, Boulder, Los Angeles, Tennessee and Alabama, wrote Google CFO Ruth Porat.” Just this week, as GE was making its announcement, Google was announcing a major expansion in Cambridge, the city across the river from Boston that is home to Harvard and MIT. Kendall Square is also home to offices from Facebook, Microsoft, IBM, Akamai, DigitalOcean and a plethora of startups. Google will be moving into a brand new building that currently is home to the MIT Coop bookstore. It plans to grab 365,000 square feet of the new building when it’s completed, and, as in NYC, will be adding hundreds of new jobs to the 1,500 already in place. Brian Cusack, Google Cambridge Site lead points out the company began operations in Cambridge back in 2003 and has been working on Search, Android, Cloud, YouTube, Google Play, Research, Ads and more. “This new space will provide room for future growth and further cements our commitment to the Cambridge community. We’re proud to call this city home and will continue to support its vibrant nonprofit and growing business community,” he said in a statement. As we learned this week, big company commitments can vanish just as quickly as they are announced, but for now at least, it appears that Google is serious about its commitment to New York and Boston and will be expanding office space and employment to the tune of thousands of jobs over the next decade.<doc-sep>
Boston-based General Electric will not follow through on plans for a new 12-story office building in the Seaport District and will instead sell the property intended for the project. The company announced a deal with the state Thursday, and says proceeds from the property sale will be used to reimburse the state for an $87 million investment in the company's new headquarters. The sale will include both the property owned by GE and an adjacent property owned by MassDevelopment, a quasi-public agency. GE, a historic conglomerate that has been struggling in recent years, will not come close to meeting its original promise of creating 800 jobs at the headquarters, as the Boston Globe first reported on Thursday. In a written statement, Ann Klee, GE's vice president for Boston development and operations, said the company has no plans to leave Boston. “While changes in the company’s portfolio and operating model will lead to a smaller corporate headquarters, we are fully committed to Boston and proud to call it home,” Klee said. GE has been scaling down operations, selling its oil and gas business, and spinning off a health care division. The company said last year the strategy is to focus on three business units: aviation, power and renewable energy. Once the sale of the two properties is complete, GE hopes to remain a tenant in the two former Necco warehouses located on one of the parcels. The renovation of the buildings is nearly complete, and GE says it plans to house approximately 250 employees there. GE will cancel a deal with the city for $25 million in property tax abatements. The deal never took effect, according to GE, because the company never reached the 400-job threshold in the agreement. Despite the downsizing of its headquarters, GE said it would still complete construction on promised public spaces including a harbor walk, a public dock and the renovation of the "green bridge," which is already underway. In a statement, Lizzy Guyton, communications director for Gov. Charlie Baker, said "the Administration looks forward to working with GE as the company grows its World Headquarters here in Boston." Massachusetts and the city of Boston lured General Electric from its Connecticut home in 2016. Jeff Immelt was the company's CEO at the time. Immelt is now gone, as his replacement. H. Lawrence Culp Jr. is now the CEO. The company was booted from the Dow Jones Industrial Average last year, ending a more than 100-year run.