The Whiteland Town Council on Wednesday approved a personal property tax abatement for Turn 14 Distribution to move into Lot 5 in the Mohr Logistics Park.
Emily Ketterer | Daily Journal
A performance auto parts distributor is in discussions to bring its first Midwest location to Whiteland, and the town council approved a tax break incentive on Wednesday to help seal the deal.
Turn 14 Distribution is eyeing to lease 510,000 square feet of the roughly 846,000-square-foot Lot 5 in the Mohr Logistics Park between Whiteland and Tracy roads. Turn 14 currently has three facilities in Pennsylvania, Texas and Nevada.
Chad Sweeney, senior principal with Ginovus, a Fishers-based site selection firm, told the Whiteland Town Council on Wednesday that Turn 14 was also eyeing other states for another location, including Florida. The company sees Whiteland as a number one choice to expand to the Midwest, but asked for a personal property tax abatement to put Whiteland on “equal footing” with the incentives other areas are offering.
Turn 14 asked the town for a five-year $837,838 personal property tax abatement. The company would plan to invest $26.5 million in equipment, Sweeney said. Additionally, they plan to bring 250 jobs paying around $25 an hour to Whiteland by the end of 2027.
This abatement will last five years, with Turn 14 paying 20% of personal property taxes in the first year, with the amount they pay increasing by 20% each year over the period. Over the five-year period, Turn 14 will pay roughly $1.4 million in personal property taxes, compared to the around $2.3 million it would have paid without the abatement.
Sweeney said if the abatement was approved, Turn 14 would commit to signing a lease for the Mohr building.
Whiteland town council members voted 4-1 to approve the abatement for Turn 14, but a couple of members were hesitant in offering the tax break.
Joe Sayler, council president, was the member who voted against the abatement. He said he was hesitant about giving a personal property tax abatement because this was the first time the town was asked to consider a break like this.
Sayler said he wanted to look into more how the town would benefit from such an investment. He was also hesitant about the first personal property abatement going to a logistics company, he said.
Whiteland had previously offered a personal property tax abatement to Cooper Tire, which is also in the Mohr Logistics Park, but that was a unique situation. That tax break was given as a way to have the town reimburse Cooper Tire and Mohr Capital for various infrastructure improvements made for the development. It was also unique because it was only for two years, which veers from the standard five to 10-year abatements.
Council member Brad Goedeker was also hesitant about this being the first time to offer a personal property abatement because that would mean it would be expected for every business looking to come to Whiteland.
He was also concerned about accountability for the number of jobs and wages promised, and making sure Turn 14 would fill out the forms — referred to as a CF-1 — needed to review if they would be in compliance to keep their abatement every year.
“I know (we) and the city of Greenwood have had issues with some of our companies that have applied for different abatements not filling out the forms appropriately or on time,” Goedeker said. “I have zero … forgiveness for that.”
Personal property tax abatements are not an uncommon incentive to attract companies, especially in Indiana. Some states don’t even have a business personal property tax, so offering a tax break for personal property is one way to level the field for competition in Indiana, said Sweeney and Carmen Young, Whiteland’s planning director.
“The reality is, especially with these types of projects that are, again, very sought after in terms of investment and wages. It’s just what other communities are doing, and quite frankly, have been doing for some time,” Sweeney said.
Whiteland has approved tax abatements for real property in the past for its other industrial properties, including for the Mohr Logistics Park. Mohr Capital was given a 10-year $17.1 million real property tax abatement in 2020, where Mohr will pay an estimated $17.1 million in taxes to the town over the period.
To Goedeker’s concerns, Sweeney also said the town council has the authority always to terminate the abatement if they find Turn 14 to not be in compliance with what it promised to the town in order to receive the abatement.
Other council members were more on board with the abatement. Council members Richard Hill and David Hawkins said although this is an unknown for the town, they would be foolish to not consider it, especially given the number of jobs and the higher-than-average wages.
“With the Mohr Logistics facilities, we want to attract more business,” Hill said. “We don’t want them sitting for years and years and years because we don’t want to come to an agreement on the opportunity and look to the future.”
