A rendering of Gateway Parke II’s proposed speculative office building to built along North Emerson Avenue in Greenwood.
Provided by the city of Greenwood
The Greenwood City Council approved giving a tax break for a speculative office building, and is now considering giving a separate abatement for a manufacturing company’s expansion.
City council members voted 8-0 Monday night to approve giving Gateway Park II LLC a 10-year, $875,532 real property tax abatement, with one member absent. During this same period, the developer would still pay a little more than $1.2 million in taxes, city documents show.
Gateway Parke II is planning to build a 28,800-square-foot, single-story speculative office building on vacant land located at 845 N. Emerson Avenue, Greenwood. The building would be similar to the building owned by Gateway Parke Building One LLC, located immediately to the south at 853 N. Emerson Avenue, Pat Sherman, an accountant representing the developer, told the city council last month.
The proposed building will be for medical and mixed office-use companies, similar to the first building, Sherman said.
The developer plans to invest nearly $8.5 million in the project, a majority of which — $7.2 million — would be for improvements, according to city documents.
Ninety-three jobs are expected to be created once the building is finished and tenants move in, with salaries expected to be $19.50 an hour. The first building has average wages of around $26 or more, Sherman said.
There was a public hearing scheduled on the abatement Monday, but no one from the public spoke.
While the abatement was approved Monday night, the city council will vote next month on a final resolution confirming the abatement.
In other business, the city council also heard a request for a more than $376,000 tax break from Nachi America Inc.
Nachi America is asking the city of Greenwood for a three-year, $376,710 tax break as the company prepares to expand and purchase new equipment and machinery for its Nachi Tool America subsidiary, 713 Pushville Road. Nachi is a global manufacturer of products including bearings, precision cutting tools, hydraulic equipment, machine tools, robots and high-speed steel, said Alex Sowder of KSM Location Advisors, which is representing Nachi.
Their Greenwood office is the company’s North American corporate headquarters, housing three subsidiaries: Nachi Tool America, Nachi Technology and the Nachi Technology Center.
Nachi Tool is expected to invest $13.6 million as they expand their manufacturing capabilities. Over the life of the three-year abatement, the company would still pay $165,790 in taxes, city documents show.
“I would also like to mention that I think this project has the potential to also have a phase two, in addition to this $13.6 (million),” Sowder said. “But for the purposes of what we’re here to present to you this evening and hopefully garner your support for, it’s kind of for an unofficial phase one, if you will.”
Thirty-five jobs will be retained by the company, and they will create five new highly-skilled jobs with an average wage of at least $22 an hour by year-end 2024. But the company could create even more jobs than that, Sowder said.
“As we apply and set expectations, we want to under-promise, over-deliver,” she said.
The tax break was introduced Monday night, and no vote was taken. A public hearing on the proposal is scheduled for Sept. 6, with a vote expected later that month.
