Haribo buys Kenosha-area site

German candy company pays almost $21 million for spot in business park

Gummy bear maker Haribo has purchased a 137-acre site in Pleasant Prairie where it will build its first North American candy plant.

Haribo paid the Village of Pleasant Prairie $20.7 million for the site, just west of I-94 and a little more than two miles north of the Illinois state line.

The land is part of 458 acres the village bought from Abbott Labs in May for $37.5 million and will turn into a business park.

Haribo expects to employ 385 people at the 500,000-square-foot factory it will build in the business park. The state will give the firm up to $21 million in incentives for locating its plant there.

Haribo, based in Bonn, Germany, announced its plans in March, and development officials hailed the decision as a major win for Wisconsin.

A few months later, a site just 10 miles north, in Racine County, was selected by Foxconn Technology Group for a $10 billion electronics factory that could employ up to 13,000 people.

The state incentives for Haribo will be credits against its income tax bills through 2028.

The company will get them based largely on the size of its capital investment here, as well as on the number of jobs it creates, its purchases from Wisconsin companies and the amount it spends on employee training.

The credits are “refundable.” If Haribo meets the requirements but doesn’t owe state taxes, or owes less than the incentive amount, it will receive a check for the difference. The company likely will be getting checks. Wisconsin waives almost all taxes on manufacturing profits.

Haribo expects to start building in 2018 and begin production in 2020, the village said this year.

The company will be the first tenant in the Prairie Highlands Corporate Park, which the village is developing. The village expects to spend $55 million to put in roads, water lines, sewers and other improvements at the site, paid for through a tax incremental financing district.

TIF districts use the taxes generated by new development to pay off the loans taken out to finance improvements.