A revealing glimpse inside Cleveland's failed Amazon HQ2 bid

CLEVELAND, OH (WOIO) - Cleveland 19 has obtained documents that offer a revealing glimpse into Cleveland's unsuccessful bid to win Amazon's new HQ2 project.

Namely, the city and Cuyahoga County officials pitched that HQ2 could be built within the Terminal Tower and Post Office Plaza.

They also offered all Amazon employees a discount on RTA transportation, and pledged to exponentially expand RTA "Rapid" rail lines, from 37 miles to 111 miles by 2029.

The information was provided by the Northeast Ohio Areawide Coordinating Agency (NOACA), a transportation planning group that delivered troves of data to support the Amazon bid.

The documents were made public by NOACA Thursday following a protracted legal battle with cleveland.com over their release.

Cleveland is still refusing to disclose other public records related to the bid, which are currently tied up in court hearings.

HQ2 is a proposed Amazon corporate headquarters that, when constructed, will supplement the existing Seattle headquarters. Amazon announced the initiative, along with a request for proposals from governments and economic development organizations, in September 2017, attracting attention from more than 200 cities in Canada, the United States and Mexico.

Amazon intends to have 50,000 workers at HQ2 and is planning to invest $5 billion in new construction. The finalists were announced in January, and Cleveland didn't make the cut.

View the documents below: