|
REGULAR MEETING February 11, 2019
<br /> Dan Buckenmeyer, Director of Business Development for the Department of Community
<br /> � p p
<br /> Investment for the City of South Bend with offices located on the 14th floor of the County-City
<br /> Building, South Bend, IN, served as the presenter for this bill. Mr. Buckenmeyer stated, SWGS
<br /> Properties is by name Grace Steel. They are a small startup steel fabricator with a great and
<br /> sustainable model. They are currently operating out of a very small shop in Mishawaka but are
<br /> looking to move to South Bend to expand significantly.The petitioners are here. I will skip through
<br /> a lot of this (referencing a presentation which is available in the City Clerk's Office). Again, as
<br /> you recall from the last meeting we are doing a stack of tax abatements and I will get into where
<br /> they go but we are combining vacant,real and personal to assist them the best way we can, so they
<br /> can take this eight and a half(8.5)acre plot and 70,000 square foot building on West Sample Street.
<br /> The property is crumbling infrastructure and they are going to revitalize it and make it into a steel
<br /> production facility. We have some pictures (referencing the presentation) that show the current
<br /> state and some future state. In short, their full investment into this project will be well over $2
<br /> million. They will bring in sixteen (16) new full-time jobs with solid pay, both hourly and salary.
<br /> They are also retaining four (4) full-time jobs. The full amount of abatement, across the stack of
<br /> all three(3) abatements,is about$213,000. They will still pay, at least, about$55,000 or$56,000,
<br /> over the course of two (2), six (6) and one (1) five (5) year abatement. The key is in this slide
<br /> (referencing the presentation). I think the important thing, simply, as the red numbers show, with
<br /> no action and if we didn't provide this support and they didn't come in to revitalize this building,
<br /> that property would provide an estimate of$200,000 over the next ten(10)years. That would be a
<br /> crumbling piece of infrastructure and would probably decline from there. And this was an early
<br /> estimate and we actually added about $20,000 so it's actually going be about $264,000 through
<br /> the course of the abatement and into the ten (10) year window. So, it's a true win-win for the City
<br /> and company.
<br /> Council President Tim Scott asked, Has anything changed in the petition from the last time you
<br /> presented?
<br /> Mr. Buckenmeyer replied, No.
<br /> David and Pam Andre, 21601 Durham Way, Bristol, IN, served as the petitioners for this bill. Mr.
<br /> Andre stated, As you may recall from our last presentation, Grace Steel was founded three (3)
<br /> years ago by Pam. It has grown very rapidly. It takes steel that often times otherwise would end
<br /> up as scrap or secondary material,processes it into good steel and parts,supplies the RV and trailer
<br /> industry, and ships as far away as Arkansas and Missouri right now. It is growing, and we would
<br /> not be able to be in this facility and pay for the renovations if it weren't for the abatements and the
<br /> support of the City. So, we appreciate that.
<br /> This being the time heretofore set for the Public Hearing on the above bill, proponents and
<br /> opponents were given an opportunity to be heard.
<br /> Jason Banicki-Critchlow, 3822 Ford Street, South Bend, IN, stated, As I said, I guess about four
<br /> (4) weeks ago at the Committee meeting, I'm very excited for this. This is definitely something
<br /> we need on that side of town. I like the way we are doing it in a much more phased-in way as
<br /> opposed to other ones that are one hundred percent(100%). This allows us to get some of that tax
<br /> revenue a little bit sooner. Again,this is in an area where we need these kinds of jobs. I'm excited
<br /> to see it there and we need to make this happen.
<br /> Council President Tim Scott turned the floor back to Council Members for further comment or
<br /> main motion.
<br /> Councilmember Gavin Ferlic stated, Thank you for your investment and thank you for your
<br /> patience tonight. I know it has been a bit longer than usual.
<br /> Councilmember Jo M. Broden stated, Yes, thank you. After the last presentation, local workforce
<br /> recruitment and training was something we had brought up. Were there any additional
<br /> conversations with our department or staff on those objectives? Or, do you anticipate that?
<br /> Mr. Buckenmeyer replied, We anticipate it. We haven't had those yet, but we did talk about
<br /> working with the Urban Enterprise Zone and resources like that, too. They have voiced a
<br /> commitment to seeking local employees first(lst).
<br /> 23
<br />
|