By JAN McLAUGHLIN
BG Independent News
An automotive manufacturing company is planning to bring 481 jobs to Bowling Green.
The company reportedly expects to announce its plans for a Bowling Green facility next month. The plans came to light Tuesday evening when BG Board of Education was asked to enter into a school donation agreement with the company, which is proposing a plant in the city Community Reinvestment Area on the east edge of Bowling Green.
City and economic development officials acknowledged the business’ plans to open a plant here.
A developer going by the name of Bowling Green 40 Owner LLC has purchased the site for the plant in the Woodbridge Business Park, located east of Dunbridge Road, between Poe Road and Bowling Green Road East. The address will be 2611 Woodstream Drive.
The city of Bowling Green has offered the company a 100% CRA tax abatement for 15 years on real property construction and improvements. Those terms are standard for a CRA agreement, according to a city official.
The proposed agreement will go before Bowling Green City Council on Monday.
To ensure that BG City School District benefits from the incentives received by the company, the city requested and the company agreed to make payments to the school district during the 15-year tax exemption period.
Specifically, the company has reportedly agreed to make 15 annual payments calculated based on the estimated real property value of the project. Those payments are currently set at $293,042 annually.
Penta Career Center is also in line to get $26,454 annually with a similar agreement.
The annual payment amounts will be subject to change due to rate of taxation changes based on state re-evaluation and changes in school levies or property values, according to the agreement voted on by the school board Tuesday evening.
The board voted unanimously to enter the agreement. The first payment will be due on or before April 1, 2028.
BG Schools Superintendent Ted Haselman said city and economic development officials worked with him to make sure the district would be getting the same amount from the company as if it were on the tax rolls.
The developer who owns the site is building and then leasing the facility to an end user who will be announced mid-December. The auto manufacturing business is reportedly planning an investment of more than $100 million in the location.
Plans call for 481 employees, with the company having an annual payroll of $31 million.
The timeline for the project is still being determined, but the company is expected to break ground quickly.
