A Bayer planeja US$ 42,7 milhões em expansão de sua fábrica de fungicidas em Kansas City

Bayer Crop Science LP plans a $42.7 million expansion of its Kansas City manufacturing facility that would include city assistance in financing $25 million in new machinery that would produce a plant fungicide called fluopyram.

Located at the company’s 8400 Hawthorne Road facility, the expansion would consume 40,000 square feet of 141,000 available square feet at the property. Although it would not create new jobs, the project would retain 100 jobs and could generate new ones with potential expansion in 2022, according to a development plan filed with the Economic Development Corp. of Kansas City.

The initial expansion would be complete in 2019, according to Bayer.

“This investment strengthens the site’s capability and role as a world-class facility within the Bayer production network and helps to sustain employment at today’s level of approximately 600 full-time employees and 150 contract associates,” Greg Coffey, deputy director of communications for Bayer U.S., said in a statement.

The city will issue $25 million in taxable industrial revenue bonds as part of the Chapter 100 program. The bonds would cover the purchase and installation of the new machinery in the expansion; the remaining $17.7 million cost will go toward construction and renovations. The $17.7 million will come from financing sources other than the bonds, according to the plan.

The bonds would be paid entirely from revenue the project generates, and the city would own the equipment and lease it to Bayer for 10 years, when the company will buy it, according to EDC documents.

During the city’s lease of the equipment, Bayer will have a 100 percent property tax abatement on the equipment but will reimburse the city for 50 percent of the amount through PILOTs (payment in lieu of taxes) to the taxing jurisdictions, making the abatement on equipment effectively 50 percent.

According to the plan, Chapter 100 financing was “a deciding factor” in the decision to expand in Kansas City, serving to “bridge a financing gap.” The company also considered St. Louis and two out-of-state locations.

The City Council’s Planning, Zoning and Economic Development Committee will vote on the approval of a Chapter 100 industrial development plan required for the bonds for the project at its Wednesday meeting.

If the measure is approved is approved Wednesday, it would go to the City Council for final approval.

The plant is east of Interstate 435 near the intersection of the Missouri and Blue rivers.

Bayer employs about 750 crop science employees at its Kansas City facility, with an average salary of $100,000, according to the plan. The company also has an animal health division in Shawnee and reported total employment of about 1,300 in the metro area.

Biz journals, 

Fonte Imagem: Reprodução