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IDB approves tax abatement as MCLinc plans to build at Horizon Center

Posted at 7:48 pm October 5, 2017
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

Barry Stephenson, president and chief executive officer of MCLinc, discusses the analytical testing laboratory's plan to build a 29,000-square-foot building at Horizon Center during an Oak Ridge Industrial Development Board meeting on Monday, Oct. 2, 2017. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

Barry Stephenson, president and chief executive officer of MCLinc, discusses the analytical testing laboratory’s plan to build a 29,000-square-foot building at Horizon Center during an Oak Ridge Industrial Development Board meeting on Monday, Oct. 2, 2017. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

A city board on Monday approved a six-year, 50 percent property tax abatement for a company that plans to move from Heritage Center, the former K-25 site, to Horizon Center, a few miles northeast.

MCLinc is now in Building K-1006 at Heritage Center, which is also known as East Tennessee Technology Park. A conference center at ETTP’s main entrance is leased for special events, and MCLinc has the next building on the right. It’s been home to a laboratory since 1965. MCLinc (Materials and Chemistry Laboratory) has been there since 1998, when the company started.

But the building is owned by the U.S. Department of Energy, and it is slated for demolition, said Barry Stephenson, MCLinc president and chief executive officer. Attempts to acquire the building have not panned out, Stephenson told the Oak Ridge Industrial Development Board on Monday.

Three years ago, the company, an analytical testing laboratory, received notice that they have to move, Stephenson said. He told the IDB that MCLinc has to be out of the building by September 2018. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Business, Front Page News, Oak Ridge Tagged With: Barry Stephenson, Buzz Patrick, David Mason, David Wilson, East Tennessee Technology Park, Hal Osucha, Harold Trapp, Heritage Center, Horizon Center, Louise Dunlap, Materials and Chemistry Laboratory, MCLinc, Oak Ridge Industrial Development Board, Phil Yager, PILOT agreement, property tax abatement, Richard Chinn, tax abatement, U.S. Department of Energy

Protomet announces $30 million, 200-job expansion, but moving is an option

Posted at 11:49 am February 2, 2016
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

Protomet-Walt-Weaver-Feb-2-2016

Protomet Corporation on Tuesday, Feb. 2, 2016, announced a $30 million, 200-job expansion, but the landlocked company could move to another county—or even another state. Pictured above is Protomet production associate Walt Weaver. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

Note: This story was last updated at 11:35 a.m. Feb. 3.

Protomet Corporation on Tuesday announced a $30 million, 200-job expansion, but the landlocked company could move to another county—or even another state.

Protomet is now located in the Bethel Valley Industrial Park in south Oak Ridge.

The company hopes to break ground on the 100,000-square-foot expansion in June and plans to add 200 new jobs during the next five years. Protomet now has 70 workers in a 40,000-square-foot building on eight acres, so the company would more than triple in size.

Besides staying put, Protomet is also looking at sites in Roane County (the Horizon Center in west Oak Ridge), Loudon and Monroe counties, and South Carolina. The company is looking at some tracts of land outside Anderson County that are more than 25 acres. Protomet needs about 25-30 acres for the expansion, and right now, it doesn’t have it. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Business, Business, Front Page News, Oak Ridge, Slider, Top Stories Tagged With: Bethel Valley Industrial Park, DOE, expansion, Horizon Center, IDB, Jeff Bohanan, John Huling, Nana Liberatore, Oak Ridge Chamber of Commerce, Oak Ridge City Council, Oak Ridge Industrial Development Board, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, ORNL, Parker Hardy, payment in lieu of taxes, PILOT, Protomet, Protomet Corporation, PTM Edge, PTM Edge Watersports, tax abatement, U.S. Department of Energy, Walt Weaver

Guest column: Won’t support tax increase, urges residents to prevent further waste

Posted at 11:51 am July 9, 2015
By Trina Baughn 15 Comments

Trina Baughn

Trina Baughn

Sixteen years ago, Partners for Progress successfully lobbied the city to spend over $15 million of your (the taxpayer) money to launch a major development on the West End of Oak Ridge. The promises were enough to make people starry eyed. There was to be a picturesque subdivision of nearly 4,000 homes along with an industrial complex that, when all was said and done, would produce 17,000 jobs, $1 billion in payroll, and nearly $13 million in additional annual property taxes.

Three years ago, many of the same folks behind Partners for Progress began a similar PR campaign touting the sale and redevelopment of the mall. “More shopping choices are coming!” they proclaimed. To date, the city has approved the use of $1.5 million of your money for infrastructure costs and a $13 million TIF (tax increment financing), which will  suppress property tax revenue at current levels for the next 30 years. In other words, no matter what happens, the 64 acres will continue, as it has for the last decade, to produce only 10 percent of its original value because any increases will be used to repay the TIF loan. Developers and city officials claim that the project will produce $1 million (or 20 percent) in additional sales tax revenue to the city, though, historically, the national retail sales growth rate range is between -11.51 percent to +11.18 percent. Even if we find a way around the notoriously stringent Wal-Mart non-compete covenants and actually bring in real retail, it is absolutely impossible to expect these projections to materialize, since, even in the best of times, we’ve not seen half that level of growth. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Guest Columns, Opinion Tagged With: Board of Education, Bob Eby, budget, Chamber of Commerce, City Council, CVMR, Leonard Abbatiello, mall, Oak Ridge, Oak Ridge City Council, Partners for Progress, PILT, property tax revenue, property taxes, Rarity Ridge, subdivision, tax abatement, tax incentives, tax increment financing, Thom Mason, TIF, Trina Baughn, USEC

Protomet could use tax break to double plant size, add workers

Posted at 12:23 pm March 27, 2013
By John Huotari 16 Comments

A tax break recommended by an Oak Ridge board on Monday could help a parts manufacturer more than double the size of its plant and add 20-30 workers, an executive said.

The Oak Ridge Industrial Development Board endorsed the five-year, 100 percent property tax break for Protomet—which makes marine, automotive, and homeland security equipment—in a special meeting Monday.

But Oak Ridge City Council member Anne Garcia Garland suggested there could be some opposition later. She said residents want to know why Protomet, which has become successful with the help of one tax abatement, should receive another. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Business, Government, Oak Ridge, Oak Ridge, Top Stories Tagged With: 4FinalFinish, Anne Garcia Garland, Chris Johnson, expansion, IDB, Jeff Bohanan, Mark Watson, Oak Ridge City Council, Oak Ridge Industrial Development Board, parts manufacturer, payment in lieu of taxes, PILOT, Protomet, tax abatement, tax break, tax incentives

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Classifieds

Public Notice: NNSA announces no significant impact of Y-12 Development Organization operations at Horizon Center

AVAILABILITY OF THE FINAL ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT FOR THE OFFSITE HOUSING OF THE Y-12 DEVELOPMENT … [Read More...]

ADFAC seeks contractors for five homes

Aid to Distressed Families of Appalachian Counties (ADFAC) is a non-profit community based agency, … [Read More...]

Public notice: Draft environmental assessment for Y-12 Development Organization at Horizon Center

AVAILABILITY OF THE DRAFT ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT FOR THE OFFSITE HOUSING OF THE Y-12 DEVELOPMENT … [Read More...]

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