Local News
Whitestown grants abatements for Amazon project
Products such as books, CDs, videos and toys will be brought in by trucks
Whitestown — The Whitestown Town Council voted unanimously Friday to grant two different 10-year tax abatements to bring Amazon.com to town.
Amazon.com will use an existing 630,000-square-foot building as a distribution center. The building is on Anson Boulevard in the Anson development, and is called Building No. 1.
Products such as books, CDs, videos and toys will be brought in by trucks, making the site’s location within the Interstate 65 corridor a top choice for Amazon.
Before the town council voted, Boone County Economic Redevelopment Commission Executive Director Kristie McKillip urged the council to support the project and to consider giving a maximum incentive. McKillip also presented a letter of support from Lebanon School Superintendent Dr. Robert Taylor.
The first abatement is a real property tax abatement for Duke Realty Corp. which owns Building No. 1 on 36 acres in the Anson development. The abatement, starting in 2008, will save Duke Realty about $586,000. The company will pay a total of about $1 million in real property taxes during the abatement period. Craig Anderson of Duke Realty said the company will invest about $6.5 million in real property improvements.
These improvements include:
• Building a parking lot;
• Building out 35,000 square feet of office space in the building;
• Adding 135 windows to the building; and
• Making road improvements to County Road 450 South and County Road 500 East.
The second abatement is a personal property tax abatement for Amazon to purchase equipment for operations. The abatement will save Amazon about $1.4 million in personal property taxes during the abatement period, while Amazon will pay about $1.6 million.
Amazon.com representative Arthur Valdez said the company will invest about $34 million in the distribution center. He said the company will start hiring for hourly positions in June and management positions in the next 1-1/2 months. The company will hire about 400 hourly workers and 30 to 34 managers, he said. The projected employment in three years is 1,200 employees. The distribution center is set to start receiving goods in September and to begin shipping in October.
Besides the economic benefits of the center, Valdez emphasized the company’s belief in social responsibility, saying that Amazon encourages its employees and leaders to become involved in community organizations. Valdez’ mention of community stewardship impressed Town Council President Jason Tribby. He said he was happy to hear about plans for the company to be involved with the community.
Valdez said the distribution center will be one of the seventh-largest operations in the United States, and in three years will become a 24/7 operation. He said the Seattle-based company has operations in Asia and Europe and had a revenue of $15 billion in 2007.
“It makes sense for us — the geographic location will allow us to serve the customers in the Midwest region more effectively,” Amazon spokeswoman Patty Smith said.
She said the center would be focused on serving customers in the region, but international orders would also be filled there.
“It’s another tremendous economic victory for the state,” Gov. Mitch Daniels said. “We will pause for about five minutes to savor this job capture and then we’ll go back searching for the next one.”
Smith said she did not have information about wages at the new facility, but said they would be “competitive” with other jobs in the region.
The Indiana Economic Development Corporation said it would provide Amazon with performance-based tax credits and training grants.
Amazon opened a distribution center in Munster in late 2007.
- Local News
-
-
McCraw faces four new charges
Charges that he had been using marijuana before he drove a car into a home, killing a woman, have been filed against Joshua McCraw, 22, Lebanon.
-
Off-duty cop catches burglary suspect
-
Building blocks
Perry-Worth first-grader Ryan Keith counts his fingers to add a math sum while playing an educational computer game Tuesday afternoon as classmate Scout Langley, right, also intently plays during Perry-Worth Elementary School’s intervention block.
-
Boone benefits from Indiana’s conservation program expansion
Lt. Gov. Becky Skillman recently visited Starkey Farms here to announce that the U.S. Department of Agriculture has granted an expansion of Indiana’s Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program , a partnership between the USDA and the State of Indiana to address agriculture-related environmental concerns.
-
Leap placed on unpaid suspension
Lebanon Police Patrolman Jason Leap is on unpaid suspension pending the result of an Indiana State Police investigation into allegations he pointed a handgun at a bar patron while off duty.
-
West Nile pops up in Boone
The West Nile Virus has been detected in adult mosquitoes in Boone County.
-
A cross-country summer
Lebanon resident Richard Lyons flew to the Pacific coast in Oregon in June to explore the area on his bicycle. He told his family he was going to ride around for a while and then head back home.
-
United Way sets records
The United Way of Central Indiana in Boone County is raising the bar this year with several record highs.
-
I-65 traffic shifts again
Traffic along a four-mile stretch of north-bound Interstate 65 south of Lebanon was shifted one lane to the left Thursday night as crews continued an ahead-of-schedule project to add two lanes to the highway.
-
Clinic for mandatory vaccinations planned
Less than 200 children in the Lebanon Community School Corp. haven’t received state-mandated vaccinations, and local health officials are confident that number will shrink rapidly.
- More Local News Headlines
-
