The construction of a new, partially automated warehouse is proposed for a business park on the east side of Greenwood, and the developer is requesting a seven-figure tax break.
Becknell Industrial, a Carmel-based real estate firm, plans to construct a 140,000-square-foot building in the Southtech Business Park on Graham Road. An undisclosed tenant would employ up to 80 people initially, but the number of workers would drop to about 30 after three years, according to a property tax break request filed with the city.
Becknell is requesting a 10-year, $1.4 million property tax break. Over the same time period it would pay an equivalent amount of property taxes, according to the request.
The Greenwood Redevelopment Commission unanimously approved the request earlier this week. The tax break will also need to be approved by the Greenwood City Council.
Pat Sherman, a local accountant who was representing Becknell in its tax break request, wouldn’t identify the proposed tenant at this point, but said the structure would have about 10,000 square feet of office space with the rest being a warehouse.
The proposed tenant would experience a decline in employees from its initial starting count as the business becomes more automated, he said.
If the tax break is approved, construction on the warehouse would begin in August and take a year to complete.
The project stands out from recent tax breaks in that the developer has already identified a tenant and provided information about the number and quality of jobs expected to be created.
The council and redevelopment commission have approved tax breaks for several similar buildings within the past year, and have another tax break for a manufacturer under consideration.
All of those tax breaks are for speculative projects, which are being built without a firm idea of who the tenants will be, which means developers said they weren’t able to provide projects on the number of jobs the city could expect to be created in return for the tax break.
