A view of Bailey and Wood Financial Group building in Whiteland. Bailey and Wood Financial Group new facility will be 17,000 square foot building that will have a residential appearance to blend in with the Whiteland community.
EMILY KETTERER | DAILY JOURNAL
A 10-year tax abatement was given for Bailey and Wood Financial Group to expand its headquarters in Whiteland.
The Whiteland Town Council approved a $200,000 real property tax break for Bailey and Wood Financial Group last month. Wrigley Real Estate Holdings LLC, a holding company owned by Bailey and Wood, intends to construct an approximately 17,000 square foot new facility located next to the current location on Whiteland Road.
When thinking about an expansion, Mike Wood, owner of Bailey and Wood, knew he never wanted to move his Whiteland facility to a different location because the town has always been his home, he said.
“I grew up in Whiteland and keeping our location in Whiteland was really important to me, I knew I didn’t want to expand our facility anywhere else,” Wood said.
The facility will include two new businesses, an insurance company and a marketing company. Along with the new businesses, there will be a mortgage training center and a community room that can host events for the Whiteland community.
Wrigley Real Estate Holdings LLC has invested approximately $351,200 for the land of the new facilities. The company plans to invest a little over $1 million for the buildings and other improvements on the property, according to town documents.
For the expansion, the company bought and soon demolished both a home at 169 N. State St. and the Care Net Pregnancy Center that was located on 730 E. Main St. The pregnancy center has since relocated to a new building in Franklin.
This tax abatement will be held over 10-year period, meaning Bailey and Wood would pay a certain percentage in real property taxes over the time period. The company will not pay any taxes in the first year of the abatement and then would pay between 5-15% more in taxes each year, until it eventually would pay 100% in taxes after the 10th year.
Over the 10 years, Bailey and Wood would save $207,751.50 total in taxes. The company would pay $211,948.50 total in real property taxes over that time period.
The current facility has reached its full capacity for its 49 employees. Wood said it feels like the “employees are sitting on top of each other,” in the tight spaces.
“We love our current location but we started getting more employees in time. Our current building doesn’t have enough space for them. We currently have our new employees gathered together in a conference room working side by side with each other,” Wood said.
Wood also wanted to make sure the new building will have a “residential look” and blend well into the community of Whiteland.
“We worked well with the town and community about expanding Bailey and Wood. People came together to help us keep our office in Whiteland,” Wood said.
With the expansion of Bailey and Wood, the new building would create 22 new positions with different requirements. Wood and his team are holding interviews for the new positions, he said.
Those interested in applying for one of the new positions can go to the career page of www.bawfg.com for an application. The new building for Bailey and Wood is expected to be completed by the end of this year.
