BOSTON (AP) — General Electric has pinpointed the Boston site for its new world headquarters.
The company announced Thursday it is purchasing about 2.5 acres in South Boston from Procter & Gamble.
The site, along the Fort Point Channel, is currently part of P&G's Gillette campus and includes two older and mostly empty buildings and a parking lot. The property sits across the channel from a central U.S. Postal Service facility and the South Station transportation hub.
Terms of the deal weren't disclosed.
GE announced in January it was moving its corporate headquarters to Boston from Fairfield, Connecticut. The company also is talking with Rhode Island officials about opening a branch office in that state.
On the Boston property, GE plans to build a new building, renovate the two older buildings and move to the site in 2018. About 800 GE employees will work there.
GE CEO Jeffrey Immelt discussed the move Thursday at the Boston College Chief Executives Club, promising that any public investment in his company will be worth it.
City and state officials offered General Electric Co. a package of incentives to help secure the move of the company's headquarters to Boston. The city offered the company up to $25 million in direct property tax relief while the state put up $120 million in grants for infrastructure improvements in and around the eventual site.
The Boston Globe quoted Immelt saying that "for every dollar that was invested in GE being here, you will get back one thousand fold. Take my word for it."
Immelt also said he's not going to say anything bad about Connecticut; he feels the move is "really about the future," the Hartford Courant reported.
