Greenwood is considering a tax break for four industrial buildings planned on a controversial property on the city’s southeast side.
Plans for the four-building Worthsville Commerce Center on 93 acres of land at the southeast corner of Allen and Collins roads were approved last month by the Greenwood Advisory Plan Commission.
Now, Scannell Properties, the developer of the project, is asking the Greenwood City Council for a real property tax abatement totaling $5.6 million to construct the four speculative buildings at the site.
All four buildings will vary in size, with the smallest being 156,000 square feet, two being 182,000 square feet and the largest sized at 584,000 square feet. Scannell plans to invest $51 million in the project, and the intended use for the properties would be logistics, light manufacturing or distribution, according to city documents.
Typically, for a traditional 10-year tax abatement, the developer does not pay any real property taxes in the first year, but Scannell requested a nontraditional abatement, where it would pay 20% of its property taxes for the first two years, and an additional 5 to 15% each year during the rest of the 10-year period, eventually paying full property taxes.
Scannell will pay $5.5 million total in property taxes over the 10 years.
The land that is being developed for the industrial park has a rocky history. It is located south of the Homecoming at University Heights subdivision, directly across the street on Allen Road.
Residents of the neighborhood protested rezoning the land to industrial twice in the last two years, saying there was too much industrial development in the area and feared increases in truck traffic. But despite concerns brought up when the rezone was proposed for a second time in September, the Greenwood City Council approved it in a 5-4 split vote.
Alexis Sowder, an attorney representing Scannell, told the city council at its meeting Monday night that speculative buildings are needed in a growing community like Greenwood.
“Spec development is something quite often we see communities struggle with,” Sowder said. “As a community that is very strategically planning for growth … you guys are going to want to be able to position yourselves with inventory that is either already complete or is nearing shell completion.”
Later on in the meeting, Greenwood Mayor Mark Myers thanked the council members who usually vote in support of abatements for speculative buildings. The last tax abatement request for a speculative building that went before the council at its March 1 meeting passed in a split 5-4 vote.
“I want to thank those council members who voted for the shell buildings and understand the importance of having those in our city and see our city progress forward,” Myers said.
To address local concerns about truck traffic in the area, the city council approved an ordinance last year banning semi-truck traffic on Allen Road, between Collins and Griffith roads, which backs up to several houses in the Homecoming neighborhood.
When asked by council member Bradley Pendleton about how Scannell plans to follow the ordinance considering the location of the development, Sowder said the developer is willing to work to meet the city’s needs.
Trucks will enter the future Worthsville Commerce Center on Collins Road, according to city documents. Scannell also agreed to pay for road improvements, such as mill and overlay, on Graham, Collins and Allen roads.
