The Hudson Board of Education unanimously approved a tax abatement agreement with Industrial Land Partners, LLC. at its meeting on Monday.
Industrial Land has agreed to invest at least $10 million in the construction of a 220,000 square foot commercial/industrial building at Hudson Crossing Business Park. Hudson Crossing is located at the intersection of Route 303 and State Route 8.
The company will receive an abatement of 85 percent of the taxes on its total investment in the project, for 15 years.
The new building will house Universal Screen Arts, an internet retailer that has been headquartered in Hudson for approximately nine years, and has outgrown its current location.
In return for the tax abatement, 119 Universal Screen Arts employees will move to the new facility, 18 workers will transfer from a Twinsburg location, and a minimum of 15 new employees will be added within five years. The facility will eventually generate a $6.9 million annual payroll, in addition to the real property tax.
Chuck Wiedie, the economic development director for Hudson, told the board that, "retention of businesses is probably the most important thing we do."
He said that he believed Universal Screen Arts, "had been courted by other communities" in northeast Ohio, and that this agreement "will cement the fact that they will stay in Hudson."
Both Farnsworth and Wiedie, stressed that it is a "shared sacrifice", that the city and the school district are giving up similar percentages of tax revenue.
Superintendent Steven Farnsworth said that this agreement, in the short term, "looks like a real sacrifice, we get hit hard."
The Board of Education, however, "is looking at the long-term," according to Farnsworth.
"We need a vibrant, business sector of the community, and then we'll all benefit," Farnsworth said.
