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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowGreenwood officials are in negotiations with a company that hopes to build an $80 million parcel sorting and fulfillment facility in the city that could employ up to 1,250 people.
The unnamed company is seeking real property and personal property tax abatements to help offset the costs of constructing and equipping a 615,440-square-foot building on a 75-acre site along Allen Road, between Graham and Collins roads, near Interstate 65.
The site is the same one FedEx Corp. had designated for a $259 million distribution center that would have employed 450 workers, but those plans were called off in March after FedEx said capacity increases elsewhere in its network made the new facility unnecessary.
Greenwood officials and others working with the company declined to reveal the identity of the business until plans are finalized. The potential development is being called “Project Brutus.”
Representatives of developer Scannell Properties LLC, which owns the property and is working with the company, shared some information with the Greenwood City Council this week. Alexis Sowder, a project manager, told council members that the facility would serve as one of a few regional offices for the company, the Franklin Daily Journal reported.
According to tax abatement applications filed with the city, the business plans to spend $45 million on the building and another $35 million to equip the facility with conveyor systems, parcel sorters, racking systems, material-handling equipment and IT scanning and picking equipment.
The facility could be operational as soon as next summer and running with full employment by the end of 2021.
The company plans to employ full-time parcel and fulfillment laborers and administration and management personnel. Average annual wages are listed at $30,472, plus benefits.
If approved, the 10-year real property tax abatement would save the company slightly less than $5 million over the abatement period. It would still pay more than $5 million in real property taxes over that time frame.
The site would only generate only about $466,000 in property taxes over the next 10 years if it remains undeveloped.
The 10-year personal property abatement, if approved, would save the company an additional $2 million. It would still pay about $1.4 million in personal property taxes over that period.
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