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Week of July 20, 2000 |
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Four firms seek tax breaks for adding 500 jobs By Candice VentraFour companies are in line to get county and state tax incentives to expand in Miami-Dade County while vowing to create nearly 500 new jobs here over the next two years. The presence of the companies, along with the new jobs, translates into a more than $70 million investment in the local economy, says Carlos Leonard, vice president of the Beacon Council, the county's public-private economic development arm. Miami-Dade County commissioners are to decide July 25 whether to approve nearly $500,000 in tax-refund incentives for local expansions by Terra Networks USA, Miami-based Watson Laboratories, Texas-based Allegiance Telecommunications and Digitas, a Boston-based Internet professional services firm. To seal the deal, the State of Florida must approve close to $2 million in tax refunds once the county has made its decision. Internet access company Terra Networks, a subsidiary of telecommunications giant Telefonica, already has its US headquarters on Brickell Avenue. The company is seeking another location to expand its headquarters by 25,000 square feet, Mr. Leonard said. Miami is not the only site in the running for Terra's expansion, he said. Mr. Leonard said the Internet company's executives are also looking at locations in New York, New Jersey and Massachusetts. Terra's expansion proposal, he says, will create 129 new jobs over the next three years at an average salary of $45,000. "The company will make a very large capital investment of approximately $31 million" Mr. Leonard said. Although it's been rumored that the company will expand along Brickell Avenue, Beacon Council officials said Terra executives have not yet chosen a site.
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