The Illinois company developing NorthWind Crossings business park in Hobart is looking to construct a spec building across Mississippi Street in Merrillville.
Paul Thurston, with Becknell Industries, asked the Merrillville Economic Development Commission for a 10-year tax abatement for the project, which is expected to cost about $12 million.
Thurston said the company is looking to build a 182,000-square-foot spec building on the now vacant cornfield between Menard’s at 61st Avenue and Mississippi and the Grand Trunk Railroad tracks to the south. He said the project would create about 70 construction jobs, but the number of permanent jobs is unknown since there are no tenants for the building yet.
The project was first brought to the town about eight years ago, but was never built, he said.
Assuming Merrillville has the same tax rate as Hobart, Thurston said the spec building would generate about $263,000 in annual taxes once it is fully assessed, based on $1.45 per square foot.
“Now, I’m paying $644 a year in taxes on the land. Even at 100 percent full abatement, tax (money received by the town) would go up,” he said.
Councilman Shawn Pettit, D-6th, said Merrillville has the lowest tax rate in Lake County.
“I would prefer to see a tax table,” he told Thurston. “The project is good in concept, but I want to see what we’re abating.”.
He also said the building’s loading docks would need to face Mississippi Street, not Interstate 65 to the west, and there needs to be extra landscaping on the Mississippi Street side. He told Thurston that he also needs Pettit said once he’s granted his abatement request, Thurston will need a letter of sewer availability from the Merrillville Conservancy District and state approval.
NorthWind Crossings in Hobart is home to more than a dozen businesses, including NB Coatings, a subsidiary of Nippon Paint, ITR, a distributor of heavy machinery equipment parts, Hanson Logistics cold storage and Teleperformance call center.
Several of the companies moved into spec buildings at the 200-acre park located south of 61st Avenue and east of Mississippi Street.
Karen Caffarini is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.
