A developer with several properties in Greenwood has received another tax break from the city.
Becknell Industrial, a Carmel-based developer, is working to fill the Southtech Business Park at Graham Road and East Main Street with speculative buildings, and now two more warehouses are slated for the industrial park.
The redevelopment commission on Tuesday approved two 10-year tax breaks, totaling about $3.3 million for both buildings. Becknell will pay about $3.7 million in taxes during that time, according to city documents.
Becknell won’t pay any real property taxes on the buildings in the first year, but will pay an additional 10 percent each year for 10 years. For example, in year 10, the company will pay 90 percent of real property taxes on the facility and then the full amount after that.
The city’s planning commission recently approved rezoning the 20.5 acres from industrial from commercial. No one from the board, the city planning staff or the public opposed the project due to its location in a highly industrial area.
The property sat vacant for years, said Eric Prime, an attorney representing Becknell. The developer owns four other buildings in the Southtech Business Park.
The latest proposal is for two more buildings, one at 157,825 square-feet, and another at 170,500 square-feet. Becknell is marketing the buildings as light industrial, and is looking to attract manufacturing businesses and distribution centers, the developer has said. They have been marketing the buildings for about 60 days now, and hope to have a tenant by the end of July, they said Tuesday.
Becknell will start construction on the first building in April 2021, and the second in April 2022. Each will be under construction for about a year, city documents said.
This is not the first time this developer has received tax breaks from the city. Earlier this year, the city gave Becknell a more than $1 million tax break to build another warehouse and parking lot in the same industrial park.
Becknell is making significant investments in Greenwood — an estimated $8.7 million on the building approved earlier this year, and $17.5 million on its latest proposal.
They estimate that each speculative building will bring at least 15 new jobs with an average pay of $17.50 an hour.
