Startup bakery seeking tax breaks on $78M project

A new firm specializing in baked goods has a $78.3 million project in the oven that could give rise to 241 jobs in the Indianapolis area by 2018.

Dallas-based Specialty Bakery LLC plans to build a 227,000-square-foot production and distribution facility on 27 acres within the Purdue Research Park near Indianapolis International Airport. The startup would make make frozen bread, dough and cookies, according to information filed with the Indianapolis Department of Metropolitan Development.

Specialty Bakery’s products would be sold to quick-service restaurants, in-store bakeries and food-service distributors. The company says it has secured a 15-year contract with a global quick-service restaurant, making it necessary to kick off development of its first facility.

The company plans to spend about $24.3 million to develop the plant, plus another $54 million for manufacturing, IT, and research and development equipment.

To help offset the costs, the company has requested tax breaks on the project.  A proposed 10-year tax abatement on the equipment would save the firm about $3.4 million, and a 10-year abatement on the real estate improvements would save about $2.5 million.

During the 10-year abatements, the firm still would pay an estimated $2.3 million in personal property taxes and $2.6 million in real property taxes.

City development staffers estimate that the facility would add $17 million in assessed value to property tax rolls, and that the purchase of the equipment would result in an increase to the tax base of about $21.6 million in assessed value in the first year of operation.

The 241 jobs created by the project would pay an average wage of $18 per hour.

The Indianapolis Metropolitan Development Commission will consider the tax break requests at its meeting scheduled for 1 p.m. Wednesday.

City development staffers have recommended that the commission approve the abatement requests. “In staff’s opinion, a project such as this would not be economically feasible without the tax abatement incentive,” according to a staff report to the commission.