This is how Sarasota County scored an Amazon distribution center
Many in the county’s private and public sectors didn’t see it coming.
The plan to attract the company that is changing the face of retail across the world came not from the county’s own agency that’s responsible for drawing businesses. It came from a local entrepreneur and County Commission Chairman Mike Moran.
Moran, who, after a lunch meeting in downtown Sarasota with Shay Atluru, the CEO/president at consulting firm DTC, convinced a friend to offer land in Venice to help seal the deal.
Last Wednesday, just months after the Amazon facility’s August opening, the leadership of the Economic Development Corporation of Sarasota County took partial credit for bringing Amazon and the 300-plus jobs that came with it.