Tuesday’s public hearing and discussion of tax incentives for First Management Inc. to renovate the long-vacant downtown Borders building for use as corporate headquarters will take place in Lawrence.
The city of Lawrence Commission takes tax breaks on the downtown border into consideration (Photo: LJ World)
Lawrence City Commission Project
For a project that would bring a pretzel production facility and up to 300 jobs to Lawrence, city leaders will soon explore tax credits and other financial incentives.
The Lawrence City Commission will discuss a request for around $4.4 million in economic assistance from VanTrust Real Estate for an industrial and light manufacturing building during its meeting on Tuesday. A municipal staff document to the commission states that the roughly 150,000 square foot structure will house a production facility for Lawrence operations of Indiana-based Pretzels Inc.
According to the Journal-World, Kansas City-based VanTrust Real Estate submitted its application earlier this month for Pretzels Inc. to settle in VenturePark, the city’s industrial park on the eastern side of Lawrence. According to information on the company’s website, Pretzels Inc. generates a variety of flavored and stuffed pretzels for many private-label companies and also sells pretzels under the Harvest Road brand.
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Consideration of tax break by Lawrence City Commission
The local commission decided against a much larger tax incentive that First Management Inc. and property owner Doug Compton had asked for in June, but they did approve one tax break for a proposal to renovate the former bookshop building at 700 New Hampshire St.
The city’s Public Incentives Review Committee voted to recommend the city commission reject the company’s prior request for a 15-year, 90% Neighborhood Revitalization Area (NRA) property tax discount for the building. However, the project now asks for a 15-year, 65% NRA rebate in a new submission to the city commission.
According to project documents, plans call for an approximate $4.3 million capital expenditure to complete the interior renovation of the Borders building, as well as a second-story expansion, tuck-pointed exterior masonry, a new entrance, more windows, and landscaping. According to the agenda, a historic livery wall that was retained during the building’s construction will also be conserved.
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