County OKs $270K in LEDA funds to help Lavu expansion
Point-of-sale system firm to remodel new Downtown home, create 46 new jobs
Bernalillo County commissioners voted earlier this week to act as the fiscal agent for a project that will provide Albuquerque-based software company Lavu Inc. with $270,000 in state Local Economic Development Act funding.
Commissioners Steven Michael Quezada, Maggie Hart Stebbins, Debbie O’Malley and James Smith voted in favor of the deal Tuesday; Commissioner Lonnie Talbert was absent.
Lavu, which sells mobile point-ofsale systems for restaurants, sought the funding for a relocation from its current Downtown headquarters at First and Central to a larger space a few blocks away in the Plaza building. The company said in its filings with the county that it will invest $1.5 million in a remodel and that the expansion will allow Lavu to create 46 new jobs at the company.
The move-in date is listed as Nov. 1 of this year.
In addition to the LEDA funding, Lavu was also approved for up to about $1.3 million in Job Training Incentive Program money for the current fiscal year, according to data from the economic development department’s website. That funding is associated with 93 jobs, and the company must apply for reimbursement after it trains those employees.
Hart Stebbins previously told the Journal that Lavu said it was considering leaving New Mexico and that state officials responded by offering the $270,000.
Lavu did not respond to a request for comment. A spokesman for the state’s economic development
department said the agency is “grateful for Lavu’s commitment to New Mexico.”
Last year, Lavu President Ohad Jehassi told city and state officials that crime in the Downtown area could force the company to move from the area because of concerns about employee safety. In a press release from the state announcing the company’s award, Jehassi attributed LEDA, JTIP and “the governor’s commitment to reducing crime in Downtown” to the company’s decision to “continue our growth in New Mexico.”
County documents show Lavu reporting a head count of 74 as of July 2017; 46 new jobs would bring the total to 120. Jehassi told the Journal in June 2017 that the company employed 86 people in Albuquerque. An additional 46 jobs would bring the total under that scenario to 132 positions.
Clawbacks associated with the deal are based on the 74-person head count. The company must return all of the funding it receives if it does not maintain 94 jobs in the first year, 114 jobs in the second year, and 120 jobs in the third year. The economic development department told the Journal it would adjust the application in the case of “any clerical error.”
The company has committed to maintaining a $7 million payroll in conjunction with the 120 jobs, according to the agreement.