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ERIE COUNTY INDUSTIRAL DEVELOPMENT AGENCY BOARD APPROVES $5 MILLION IN TAX ABATEMENTS TO BRING ANCHOR TENANT TO EMERGING TONAWANDA INDUSTRIAL PARK
by chocieniFOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - September 15, 2013
Media Contact: Sharon Linstedt
TraversCollins
(716) 464-4723 slinstedt@traverscollins.com
ERIE COUNTY INDUSTIRAL DEVELOPMENT AGENCY BOARD APPROVES
$5 MILLION IN TAX ABATEMENTS TO BRING ANCHOR TENANT TO EMERGING TONAWANDA
INDUSTRIAL PARK
Board also reviews a $2.8 million 2014 budget proposal; a
$109,000 increase over the current year's fiscal blueprint
Buffalo,
NY - The Erie County Industrial
Development Agency today approved a package of tax abatements to assist
construction of an $18.7 million home for Wythe Will Tzetzo, LLC (WWT) food
company in the new North Youngmann Commerce Centre, in the Town of Tonawanda.
The 310,000-square-foot facility will
serve as WWT's headquarters as well as a production and warehouse center. The
company, which is currently headquartered in Virginia, is a national packager
and distributor of branded, unbranded and private label candy, confections and
specialty foods. Some of their
high-profile brands include: Ghirardelli, Godiva, Jelly Belly and Harry and
David.
The ECIDA's $5.1 million package of
real estate, sales and mortgage recording tax abatements will assist WWT and
project partner, Williamsville-based Zaepfel Development, create a single local
site for the food company, combining operations now housed in leased facilities
in Tonawanda, Cheektowaga and Buffalo.
The company, which currently
employees 165 full-time and 105 part-time workers, plans to add 20 full-time
and 30 part-time staffers when the new facility is up and
running.
WWT will also move its corporate
Headquarters from Williamsburg, VA to the Two Mile Creek Road site in the Town
of Tonawanda. It will retain operations and manufacturing facilities in
Virginia, California and Tennessee.
The company gained Erie County ties
in 2011 when Wythe Will bought Tzetzo Brothers, Inc., a local confectionary
company founded in 1904.
The ECIDA board also reviewed the
agency's proposed 2014 budget. The
budget, which totals $2,820,100, is just $109,500 higher than the 2013 version.
The budget, which will take effect
Jan. 1, 2014, includes a conservative approach to agency administrative fee
revenue, budgeting for 35 percent less in administrative fees, the agency's
chief source of revenues. The budget calls for project revenues of $1.65 million, down from
$2 million in the current year. 2013 revenues were the highest the agency had
earned in several years due to major projects such as the HarborCenter at
Canalside and the Conventus building on the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus, as
well as rehabilitation of the Richardson Complex and Tishman Building.
The 2014 budget shows revenue
projections significantly less than 2013, but are in line with the Agency's 10
year average revenue results.
The ECIDA also budgeted for venture
investment reflow at $500,000 significantly lower than the $1.5 million from
2013 volatile nature of those revenues.
In 2014, salaries and benefits for
ECIDA staffers will increase by four percent, from $1.76 million to $1.8
million. A large part of that increase will be driven by the hiring of a new
CEO and rising health insurance costs.
The board will vote on the budget at
its October 21 session.