Clear Lake is working to land a regional warehouse and distribution center that could create more than 160 jobs. The name of the company isn’t being released, but it’s described as being among the first 100 of the Fortune 500. Brent Willett, executive director of the North Iowa Corridor Economic Development Corporation, says the warehouse would be huge, initially 340,000 square feet, with the capability of being expanded to 440,000.
Willett says they’ve been actively engaged with the company’s representatives through an exhaustive recruitment and due diligence process. After construction, the future occupant would create 164 full-time equivalent positions with an average annual salary of $39,000 and a total annual payroll of $6.5-million. The potential new tax base would be $19 million with the total capital investment of $65 million.
Clear Lake City Administrator Scott Flory says they need to have a development agreement ready to go as they proceed optimistically — and cautiously — with the company. Flory says they’ve not received any official confirmation that the project is approved for Clear Lake. The city wants to get itself in a position so if it is approved, the city is ready to move forward. The proposed development agreement would offer a proposed 15-year, 90-percent property tax rebate on new taxable valuation with annual appropriation provisions.
The aggregate amount of the property tax rebates are not to exceed $7.3 million, based on the new taxable valuation of $19 million. The city is also proposing to provide a 10-year forgivable loan of $1.6 million for site acquisition and development. A public hearing will take place at the Clear Lake City Council’s February 17th meeting which will start at 6:30 in City Hall.
The facility would be located in the city’s industrial park on 39 acres of undeveloped space west of Titan Pro SCI.
(Reporting by Bob Fisher, KRIB, Mason City)
