By David Slone
Times-Union
WARSAW — The list of tax abatement continuances before the Warsaw Common Council on Monday, June 3, was long.
Warsaw Community and Economic Development Director Jeremy Skinner presented the continuances to the council, all of which were approved 5-0. Councilmen Josh Finch and Mike Klondaris were absent.
“So we’ve been gathering these for a while now, and rather than kind of piecemeal, taking this one at a time, we’re just going to rip the Band Aid off all at once,” he said.
The tax abatement continuances were for:
• Tecomet, who originally applied in 2015 as Symmetry Medical, for 10-year abatement on personal and real property. Skinner said they spent around $8.8 million in improvements but have not added any additional jobs since the original filing when they estimated adding 107. This is the ninth year for the tax abatement.
• Instrumental Machine & Development Inc., who was granted a tax abatement in 2019 for personal property after the city annexed in the industrial airport. Skinner said IMD did a $1.9 million improvement project, spending around $1.3 million in personal property improvements. No jobs are tied to the personal property tax abatement. They’re in their fourth year of abatement.
• Little Crow Lofts LLC is in their seventh year of abatement. Skinner said this was the city’s contribution toward affordable housing. They spent roughly $8.4 million to rehabilitate the former Little Crow property.
• 802 Center Street also was for affordable housing. They spent roughly $13.7 million on the 72-unit senior housing project and was granted a 10-year tax abatement. They are in their third year of full assessment.
• Flexaust Co. Inc. has had a number of tax abatements over the years – 2011, 2013 and 2017.
The 2011 abatement was for real property and Flexaust spent roughly $650,000 and added 25 jobs since that time. It’s in its 10 year.
The 2013 abatement was for personal property for their expansion projects at 1605 Center St. and 602 Leiter Drive. Flexaust estimated adding 40 new employees, and have added 98 since then across three locations. It’s in its 10th year.
The 2017 abatement for Flexaust was for real and personal property for expansion projects at 1605 Center St., 1510 Armstrong Road and 602 Leiter Drive. Flexaust estimated adding 15 new employees and have added 77. It’s in its sixth year of abatement.
• The tax abatement for Lake City Highway AJM LLC was for the old Kmart building, a formerly vacant building. “We granted them a tax abatement based on its vacancy and refurbish of that building,” Skinner said.
AJM spent about $1.6 million to refurbish the building and hired 39 employees since applying for the vacant building tax abatement in 2022. They’re in their second year of abatement.
• Several of the tax abatements were from the Warsaw Tech Park.
The first was for West Hill Development LLC, for 1445 Polk Drive, Patrick Industries. Skinner said that was phase one, a 60,000-square-foot shell building for a construction cost of $4.485 million. Patrick Industries has hired 165 employees. It’s in its ninth year of abatement.
The second phase of Patrick Industries was them adding on 64,000 square feet to their property at a cost of about $4.9 million. That portion of the building is in its fifth year of tax abatement.
The first building built and occupied, 1295 Polk Drive, Banner Medical Innovations Inc., is in its eighth year of abatement. Skinner said they spent roughly $5.143 million in real property improvements and Banner Medical has around 42 employees now.
West Hill Investment Group LLC’s abatement for 1195 Polk Drive, Medartis, is in its fifth year of abatement. The building is about 55,000 square feet for an estimated cost of $8 million.
The third shell building by West Hill Development, partially occupied by Mentor Media, was granted a 10-year tax abatement at 1395 Polk Drive. The building is approximately 101,000 square feet at a cost of $11.3 million. It is in its first year of tax abatement.
• Texmo Precision Castings U.S. Inc., 596 E. CR 200N, was granted a tax abatement in 2016 by Kosciusko County for real and personal property improvements estimated at around $4.7 million. When the city annexed them in, the city took over those tax abatements for real and personal property. Texmo estimated improvements at around $4.7 million and have spent around $2.8 million in real property and $2.4 million in personal property improvements, hiring 59 additional employees since 2016. They are in their eighth year of abatement.
• Lake City Heat Treating Corp., 2427 N. Boeing Drive, was granted a tax abatement in 2019 for personal property improvements estimated at around $4.8 million. They spent around $4.4 million in personal property improvements and have hired 10 additional employees since 2019. They are in their fourth year of abatement.
• Wildman Business Group has had a couple different abatements over the years, Skinner said.
The first one in 2014 was granted for 10 years on personal property at 800 S. Buffalo St.. Wildman expected an expenditure of $2.1 million in equipment and have spent that much to date. It’s in its 10th year.
In 2022, the council granted them another 10-year abatement on real property at 800 S. Buffalo St. They did an addition to their existing facility and have since hired 37 additional employees. It’s in its second year of abatement.
• Zimmer Inc. also has had a couple different abatements.
They were granted a 10-year tax abatement for 1800 W. Center St. They estimated adding roughly $28 million in personal property, and to date have added $12.3 million in new equipment. It’s in its second year of abatement.
They took over a tax abatement that was granted to Biomet in 2014 by Kosciusko County for $28 million in new personal property. They spent roughly $21 million in personal property, and that abatement is in its seventh year.
Biomet Manufacturing LLC also was granted a 10-year tax abatement on personal property at 56 E. Bell Drive in 2022. They estimated adding new manufacturing, research and development and logistic equipment, and have spent around $3 million in new equipment. They hired roughly 94 new employees since that tax abatement, Skinner stated. It’s in its first year of abatement.
• Patrick Industries Inc. also applied for a personal property tax abatement on new manufacturing, logistics and IT equipment at the same time the city was granting them a real property tax abatement when they moved into the first shell building at the Warsaw Tech Park. They spent about $3.2 million on new equipment and employ 205. It’s in its sixth year.
• The tax abatement for Legrand AV, formerly Milestone AV Technologies LLC, 3100 N. Detroit St., is in its 10th year. They spent a little over $1 million in personal property improvements since 2014. They estimated added 30 new employees but haven’t added any to date.
“But keep in mind, it’s for personal property so they didn’t have to add any employees, based on our guidelines,” Skinner said.
• Dalton Corp., 1900 E. Jefferson St., filed for a personal property tax abatement on new manufacturing equipment in 2023. The project is expected to cost over $1.6 million. The 10-year tax abatement is in its first year.
• BTC Investments was an addition to 133 Enterprise Drive, Skinner said. They expanded the building by 12,000 square feet and houses ServeIT. The project value is around $525,000. It was granted a 10-year abatement and is in its fourth year.
Mayor Jeff Grose said, “Jeremy, in the past decade, there’s well over $100 million in investment and hundreds of jobs in this. Incredible.”
Councilwoman Diane Quance said, “It looks like the ones who needed to add employees have.”
Skinner said most of them have, perhaps.
“There were some — like the original Symmetry Medical, they never met their job requirements in terms of real property. But they did make the investment,” he said. “But in keep, ours are guidelines so we’re not structured to the point where if you don’t meet it, we reject you. That gives the council flexibility to make those decisions.”
Quance said she was “pleasantly pleased” that with the way the economy has been, businesses have stayed strong.
“I would say a lot of them have added employees, absolutely. Flexaust has added a lot of employees, a lot more than they ever estimated,” Skinner stated.
Council President Jack Wilhite made the motion to approve all the tax abatement continuances, Councilwoman Cindy Dobbins seconded the motion and it passed unanimously.
