By JAN LARSON McLAUGHLIN
BG Independent News
The proposed Amazon fulfillment center in Wood County got a prime deal from the local port authority on Thursday.
The Wood County Port Authority voted unanimously to allow the construction firm working on the $100 million project to avoid sales tax on building supplies. Such an abatement on sales tax is customary for huge projects like this, according to Rex Huffman, of the port authority.
“It’s pretty much a given now if you’re doing a big project,” Huffman said after the port authority meeting.
The construction firm, Duke Realty, asked the port authority to act on the tax break quickly so the building process could begin.
“They were asking us to do this before the end of the month,” Huffman said. “They want to get some key materials ordered.”
So he expects ground to be broken for the project within 60 days.
But even with the project moving ahead, including getting approval of the final site plan by the Rossford Planning Commission on Wednesday evening, the name “Amazon” is not being shared openly.
On Thursday, Huffman said he wasn’t able to publicly confirm the project being constructed by Duke Realty is indeed Amazon. Instead, it is listed on public agendas with the code name, “Project Freddie.”
However, last December, the unnamed company looking to locate in the Crossroads area of Wood County was named as Amazon by the county building inspection office.
The company, economic development officials and city leaders where the development is planned are still remaining tight-lipped about the name of the company – dubbing it “Project Freddie” for the purposes of discussion.
The proposed fulfillment center is promising close to 2,000 new jobs. If all goes as planned, it will sit on 100 acres between Deimling Road and South Compass Drive, behind the Home Depot store off U.S. 20.
According to plans, the site will have parking spaces for 1,800 cars and 300 tractor trailer trucks. Building plans call for constructing a 2.8 million-square-foot, five-story facility.
While the rough estimate for construction costs is $100 million, the amount to be spent on building materials is predicted to be $50 million.
The break on the sales tax will allow Duke Realty to save about $2.8 million in sales tax. However, the 1 percent of sales tax that would go to Wood County will be paid by Duke to the Wood County Port Authority as a fee for helping with the financing. That could add up to $500,000, which could then be used for future economic development projects.
