Thursday, March 14, 2013

Several News Outlets Report Abatements Offered for Expanding Businesses

From the Indianapolis Business Journal:

Chicago-based Peer Foods Group Inc., a meat producer and distributor, said Wednesday that it plans to create 80 jobs by 2014 as part of a $5.5 million expansion into Hancock County.

The company said the investment will go toward purchasing and equipping a 33,000-square-foot plant in Cumberland. The facility, which is expected to be operational in the summer, will add capacity for Peer Foods’ gourmet sausage and hot dog production lines.

Peer Foods employs 240 at two existing Indiana locations—a distribution facility in Indianapolis and a production facility in Columbus—and has begun hiring for manufacturing, production and packaging positions in Cumberland.

The Indiana Economic Development Corp. said it will provide Peer Foods up to $400,000 in performance-based tax credits based on the company’s job-creation plans. Hancock County has approved additional property tax abatements.
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http://www.ibj.com/meat-distributor-plans-plant-80-jobs-in-hancock-county/PARAMS/article/40158

From the Fort Wayne News-Sentinel:


A Columbia City-based company on Wednesday announced that it will invest $11 million to expand its headquarters, creating just shy of 100 jobs by 2016.
According to a news release, 80/20 Inc., which provides "t-slotted aluminum components and framing" for industrial and private applications, will begin in April an expansion of 31,000 square feet onto its existing 250,000 square-foot headquarters. The addition will have a training auditorium and expanded office space, the release said.
Gov. Mike Pence attended the announcement Wednesday in Whitley County, providing remarks.
The Indiana Economic Development Corporation offered 80/20 up to $650,000 in conditional tax credits and $75,000 in training grants, based on the company's job creation efforts. The tax credits are performance-based, which means 80/20 can not claim them until the incentives are met. The release said 80/20 also received an abatement on property taxes from Whitley County.
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From the Greencastle Banner-Graphic:
Heartland Automotive, which has made a quite habit of expanding its Greencastle operations over a 25-year existence, is making another investment in its manufacturing facility on Warren Drive.

Tuesday night the Greencastle City Council learned that Heartland -- the Ota City, Japan-based company that has called Greencastle its American home for a quarter-century now -- will be adding at least $4 million (possibly as much as $5 million once everything is finalized) in new equipment.

Heartland was granted 10-year tax abatement on the new equipment by City Council action Tuesday night following a public hearing on the proposed additions.

Over those 10 years, Heartland will still pay approximately $125,000 in taxes on the new equipment as it is phased in, Greencastle/Putnam County Development Center Director Bill Dory said.

The abatement will save Heartland and its parent company, Shigeru Industries Ltd., $187,000 over those 10 years, Dory added.

The new equipment will include two injection-molding machines, two interior paint booths, a slush-molding machine, a headliner stamping machine and ancillary equipment.

Some of the new equipment will be installed as early as next month while the remainder will all be in place by June 2014, Heartland Vice President of Operations Ronan Miot said.

At this point, Dory noted, the new equipment is not expected to translate into any additional new jobs at Heartland. However, continued success by Subaru and Toyota in Lafayette could still change that.

On a motion by Councilor Phyllis Rokicki with a second from Mark Hammer, the Council unanimously passed Resolution 2013-3, declaring an economic revitalization area and recommending the tax deduction for new equipment.

"We've had the great fortune to have read this kind of resolution a number of times over the years," Mayor Sue Murray noted.

And Rokicki readily agreed.

"It's wonderful," she said, "when one of our employers wants to expand and be even more invested in the community."

That investment over time, Dory pointed out, has totaled more than $7.5 million in property taxes ($7,542,101.67 to be exact) paid out to local units of government during Heartland's 25 years of operation.