Fore Note: While it appears Loudon County may have missed out on the big Tango/Amazon deal, word is that we might still get a little piece of the pie. We should know soon.

Amazon targets Murfreesboro, Lebanon for new sites

The Tennesseean-Online retailer Amazon is deep into the process of selecting land for new distribution facilities in Murfreesboro and Lebanon, where officials offered strong incentive packages while competing with other communities for upwards of 1,500 jobs.

Officials previously said a handful of communities in Tennessee and some in other states showed off industrial sites and approved tax breaks and other incentives for Amazon, which was looking to build in Tennessee under the name “Project Tango.”

On Thursday, state officials confirmed that Amazon was the company behind the code name, and Gov. Bill Haslam announced the company will begin collecting sales tax from Tennessee customers in 2014 in exchange for support for plans to open the new distribution facilities, which bring Amazon’s total investment in the state to $350 million and its workforce to 3,500.

People close to the project said Friday that Amazon’s preferred site for a million-square-foot “sort” facility is off Joe B. Jackson Parkway in Murfreesboro, to employ as many as 1,200 people. Representatives of the company are also studying a site off Interstate 840 in Lebanon for a smaller, non-sort facility to employ 300 to 500 more.

The Lebanon site is near an existing facility where Amazon is already operating, and where another 2,000 seasonal jobs will soon be filled during a one-day job fair.

Amazon could not be reached for comment.

Sources said property sales and contracts are not finalized.