Wal-Mart bags $50 million in incentives from town Lee Conrad Wal-Mart has received incentives worth $50 million over the next six years to build a 126-acre warehouse and distribution center in Olney, Ill.
Recent Company News » Wal-Mart Latest News » Synergetics files infringement suit, announces new patent » Mo. job creation climbs while unemployment falls » SSM St. Joseph participates in lung cancer study » OSHA slaps Steuby Co. with $788,000 in penalties » Funeral home bookkeeper indicted for fraud More » Companies in the News » People in the News Governments at the city and state level, as well as other taxing jurisdictions and even other companies came together to help provide incentives for Wal-Mart, said Stan Wieber, director of Richland County Development Corp. Olney is located in Richland County, about 130 miles east of St. Louis. The incentives have the support of local residents, Wieber said, because the project will create jobs. The city paid $630,000 of the $693,000 purchase price for the land; the county, as well as school districts, agreed to create a Enterprise Zone, which allows a new facility to be exempt from new real estate taxes for a certain period of time. The new distribution center will employ about 100 truck drivers and 300 Wal-Mart employees when it is fully operational in June, which is a big help to a city with a population of about 9,500, said Wieber. Wal-Mart will be exempt from paying $12.1 million in each of the first two years in real estate taxes, and then a decreasing amount over the next four years, according to the Supervisor of Assessments office for Richland County. The third year, Wal-Mart will be exempt from $9.7 million in real estate taxes; the fourth year, $7.2 million; the fifth year, $4.8 million; and the sixth year, $2.4 million. Wal-Mart officials could not be reached for comment. Olney is about a half-hour away from the closest interstate highway, I-64, Wieber said, so it has to provide incentives for big companies to locate there. "It kind of goes against the myth that to get a transportation-oriented company, you have to be on an interstate. Wal-Mart is proving that's just not true," Wieber said. Once a driver reaches the interstate, though, he's just a few hours away from St. Louis, Indianapolis or Chicago, said Dan Frisbee, senior vice president of locally based Fru-Con, the general contractor of the project. The Illinois Department of Transportation agreed to provide road improvements to Illinois Route 50, and The Illinois Department of Community Affairs will pay for water and sewer extensions to the land, Wieber said. Central Illinois Public Service, the local power company, built a $1.2 million power station at its own cost to provide the center with electricity, Wieber said. The 805,000-square-foot, six-building complex is designed to service Wal-Mart super centers in the Midwest. As a point of reference, an 805,000-square-foot building would be the fifth biggest building in the St. Louis area, after One Bell Center (1.2 million square feet); the Corporate Technology Center at McDonnell Douglas (1.2 million), One Metropolitan Square (933,000); and A.G. Edwards headquarters. http://www.bizjournals.com/stlouis/stories/1997/04/28/focus6.html >I've seen this happen with manufacturing plants, but never with retail >stores. I don't doubt that they do this in some locations. But I've >never heard of this as SOP for wal-mart. > >I know Toyota did that when they opened the camry plant in Georgetown >Kentucky. But the wal-marts around here didn't do that. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Message: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=i:5:192506 Archives: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/threads.cfm/5 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=s:5 Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=89.70.5 Donations & Support: http://www.houseoffusion.com/tiny.cfm/54
