A real-estate company is planning to build a 300,000-square-foot facility in the New Albany International Business Park to attract companies in the manufacturing, production and logistics industries, according to a Feb. 19 New Albany City Council legislative report.

The building will be within Licking Heights Local School District boundaries, and it will be north of state Route 161, on the north side of Innovation Campus Way between Harrison and Mink roads, said Jennifer Chrysler, New Albany’s community-development director.

VanTrust Real Estate plans to close on the property, owned by the New Albany Co., in early March and break ground in May, said Bill Baumgardner, VanTrust vice president, development.

The building will be finished in October or November and could take about a year from completion to fill with tenants, he said.

The investment for the shell building construction, site acquisition and site work is estimated to be $10.5 million, Baumgardner said.

The building will be designed to accommodate as many as four tenants and would create a minimum of 150 full-time jobs, with an aggregate annual payroll of at least $5 million to $9 million within three years of completion of the project, according to the legislative report.

The project is estimated to generate a base amount of $100,000 to $180,000 in annual income-tax revenue and a minimum of $32,250 in New Albany East Community Authority charges for the community, according to the report.

The New Albany East Community Authority is a community authority district that charges a special assessment for municipal infrastructure projects that have a public purpose, Chrysler said.

Approximately $30,000 to $54,000 annually would be directed toward infrastructure, approximately $26,000 to $46,000 annually would be paid to Columbus, approximately $22,000 to $40,000 annually would paid to the Licking Heights and approximately $22,000 to $40,000 would be deposited into the city’s general fund, according to the legislative report.

In this portion of the business park the city utilizes the first 30 percent of the income-tax revenue collected to repay infrastructure debt; 26 percent is paid to Columbus per the cities’ revenue-sharing agreement for the extension of water and sewer services in this area; and the remaining income-tax revenue is divided evenly between the city and Licking Heights, according to the report.

City Council on Feb. 19 approved a 100 percent real-property-tax abatement for 15 years at the site.

Because VanTrust still is in the design stage for the building and the building doesn’t have tenants the, city doesn’t have a value for how much the incentive ultimately would be worth, Chrysler said.

Baumgardner said New Albany’s tax incentives and the city’s ability to move quickly through the project-approval process made moving to New Albany attractive.

Similarly, the city’s master-planned business park and the tenants there also made the city a smart place to locate, he said.

New Albany leaders are excited for the opportunity to expand the city’s manufacturing base, Chrysler said.

“It’s a manufacturing opportunity to increase that industry cluster with speculative space, which will allow us to respond to unique needs in the market,” she said.

By Sarah Sole
From This Week News