WARREN TO TAKE OVER WAREHOUSE

Warren, Butler industrial park board to approve IDI building.

The Warren County Port Authority is expecting to take ownership of a 1.3 million square foot warehouse and distribution facility in the Park North industrial park on Ohio 63 in Monroe.

Last week, the port authority board approved a resolution authorizing staff to sign leases and agreements with Industrial Developments International, also known as IDI Gazeley, on the proposed building.

“The board is meeting tomorrow to consider the resolution so as not to slow the project,” Matt Schnipke of the Warren County Office of Economic Development said in an email before Thursday’s meeting.

The leases and agreements enable IDI to avoid taxes on materials used in constructing the building in the industrial park, east of Interstate 75 and across Ohio 63 from the Miami Valley Gaming racino.

It was unclear how much the developer would save as a result or how much the port authority was charging for closing or legal fees.

“Numbers for the project are not yet finalized,” Schnipke said in an email Friday.

Schnipke said the final fees and savings would be provided, once the port authority had closed on the project.

As it has on a wide range of other developments, the port authority would take ownership of the 1.3 million square foot warehouse and distribution facility and lease it back to IDI for $1 a year, according to the agreements.

“Both the Butler County Port Authority and Warren County Port Authority are able to provide bond financing and a sales tax exemption on qualified building materials. In addition, port authorities are able to engage in sale-leaseback situations to reduce building costs for the company,” according to economic development information on Monroe’s web site.

Park North is in the Warren County part of Monroe.

Developments in Park North also qualify for full, 15-year property tax abatements.

“In most areas, projects must meet payroll, investment, and aesthetic standards to be considered for an abatement. However, Park North at Monroe is a 429acre industrial park with available pad-ready sites that has an automatic 100 percent, 15-year tax abatement already in place,” according to Monroe’s web site.

IDI Gazeley, based in Atlanta, acquired Park North in 2012.

There are already six buildings at Park North, with a seventh announced, according to Bob Stevens of IDI Gazeley.

However Stevens declined to comment on the building referred to in the port agreements.

According to the agreements, IDI “intends to start soliciting contracts for construction of the project.”