At one point, the city of Salinas was working to retain HSBC as one of the area’s largest employers. When they sold out to Capital One, they hoped to convince the firm to keep their call center open. Now, the City is planning on how to spend their share of $1.6 Capital One will give to the city as they pull out of town.
Two payments of $500,000 each will be given to the city in the next two years, and will go to what is expected to be an aggressive economic development strategy. The other $600,000 will go to the local chapter of the United Way.
The city, which is located in the heart of California’s agricultural powerhouse, hopes to capitalize also on how near it is to the innovation capital of the Silicon Valley. To do so, the City will take control of the vacated Capital One campus, establish a business innovation hub and business incubator, as well as bring together a number of local leaders to staff the “Steinbeck Innovation Team.”
Read the full story at the Salinas Californian.