Amazon has rejected a 21-foot saguaro cactus that a Tucson economic development group sent to the online giant in hopes of luring a second company headquarters to the city.

Amazon tweeted Tuesday to the group, Sun Corridor Inc., that the company cannot accept gifts — "even really cool ones."

Last week, the group packed up the giant cactus for delivery to Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos in Seattle as the company weighs where it will locate its second headquarters. The cactus, according to Sun Corridor's CEO, was intended to communicate that there is room for Amazon to grow in Tucson long term.

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There is some irony in the company rejecting the gift. A 2016 study found state and municipal governments bestowed "almost a quarter-billion dollars in economic development subsidies in the past two years for warehouses ... tied to its Amazon Prime business model," according to Good Jobs First, a policy group that studies such subsidies.

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The saguaro, a symbol of the Sonoran Desert, will live out its life in Tucson. Amazon said it is donating it to the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, a zoo, natural history museum, art gallery and botanical garden — a climate better suited to a saguaro than Seattle.

The company's expansion will involve up to 50,000 full-time jobs and an investment of more than $5 billion over the next 10 to 15 years. The company is expected to announce the location of "HQ2" next year.

Laura Shaw, a spokeswoman for Sun Corridor, wrote in a statement to The Arizona Republic the group is thrilled the cactus is being donated. After the group announced its plans to send the cactus to Amazon, she said the group was "holding it in Tucson to see what they wanted to do" with it.

"It's clear they have corporate gift policies and we're thrilled they decided to donate it (re-gift it) in Amazon's name, to the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum here in Saguaro National Part," Shaw's statement said.

She said the group got what it wanted out of the gesture: "to be bold and creative in sending a message of 'we have room to grow here for the long term.'" She added that nothing conveys that message better than a saguaro cactus.

In its future attempts to land the online company, she wrote the group will focus on pitching the area's workforce, universities and "booming downtown."

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