A new company looking to move to Greenwood would bring with it new technology and more than 200 jobs.
Newgistics, a national distribution company, plans to open a distribution center in a 447,000-square-foot building on the east side of Greenwood. The company would be the first business to build in a new 350-acre business park planned at the intersection of Allen and Graham roads.
Scannell Properties, which will construct and own the building, and Newgistics, the tenant, are requesting a 10-year, $3.3 million tax break on both the $20 million building and $16 million of logistics and distribution equipment, according to a property tax break request filed with the city. Members of the Greenwood Redevelopment Commission unanimously approved the tax break this week. The request would also need approval from the Greenwood City Council.
Newgistics will employ 224 people at the site with an average pay of $17.35 an hour, not including benefits, with 87 of those jobs being retained from another location in Indiana. That amount is more than the county’s average wage of $15 to $16 per hour, according to Census data. About 16 percent of the jobs will be in management, with an average base salary of $60,000, according to the request.
Newgistics provides digital commerce, fulfillment, shipping and return services for online purchases from multiple companies. Newgistics’ clients include Beauty Kind, Clean Boutique, Victoria’s Secret, Tobi, Deckers, Nordstrom and Neiman Marcus, said Alexis Sowder, a multi-state project manager for KSM Location Advisors.
The facility will use an automated system for the storage and retrieval of items purchased online. While the technology is fairly common in Europe, only about a dozen distribution facilities use it in the U.S., she said.
When a customer makes an online purchase from one of Newgistics’ clients, the storage system will automatically retrieve a container with the item and bring it to an employee, who will package it for shipping, Sowder said.
Construction on the facility, which will serve as Newgistics’ Midwest hub, is planned to begin this fall and would be complete in June, with the option to eventually expand the building to more than 600,000 square feet, said Katie Culp, the president of KSM Location Advisors.
The development still would need approvals from the city for zoning and a building permit. And infrastructure also is needed at the site, including water, sewers and streets, the filing said.
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Newgistics, a national distribution company, plans to open a facility in Greenwood. Here are some details about the project:
Size of the facility: 447,000 square feet
Jobs: 224
Average pay: $17.35 an hour
Projected opening date: June 30, 2018
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