Sugar Land to seek repayment of incentives

seeking to recover the incentives, plus interest, through a clawback provision, said Phil Wagner, the city’s economic development director.

“We’re certainly disappointed in their decision, but we respect that businesses need to do what’s best for their company and shareholders,” Wagner said. “We will be aggressively pursuing repayment of those incentives. We’re always going to look after public funds.”

Telecheck will be vacating a 90,000-squarefoot space in the Sugar Creek on the Lake office complex, owned by PM Realty Group. The Houston-based real estate company confirmed that the building, at 14141 Southwest Freeway, sustained some damage to the concourse below ground.

“Sugar Creek ownership and property management took immediate steps to address the issue and have provided tenants access to retrieve belongings from their space,” PMRG said in a statement. “Ongoing repairs are going smoothly, and tenants have been notified that the building is set to reopen on Nov. 15.”

Telecheck’s decision comes amid a decadeslong decline in check writing. Consumers increasingly have written off writing checks in favor of digital payment systems like credit cards, direct deposit, and newer online and mobile systems like Paypal, Venmo and Square Cash. Americans wrote 3 billion fewer checks in 2015, compared with three years prior, according to the Federal Reserve.

First Data, which owns Telecheck, is one of the largest credit card, gift card and e-commerce processors nationally, handling more than $2 trillion worth of transactions on behalf of banks and retailers. The publicly traded Fortune 500 company has embraced e-commerce. Earlier this year, First Data acquired two credit-card processors — BluePay and Card Connect — for more than $1.5 billion.

Three Telecheck workers, who asked not to be identified because they are still employed by the company, said they were caught off guard by their employer’s decision. They said they feel left behind by the company moving forward after Harvey.

Some are considering offers to move to First Data offices in places like Atlanta, Jersey City, N.J., and Hagerstown, Md. But most don’t want to relo- cate, the employees said. Many longtime local employees are polishing their résumés while working remotely until they are asked to leave, they said.

“Obviously, I’m not happy at all,” one veteran employee and Houston native said. “I love my job and the people I work with. It’s disappointing when so many companies in Houston reached out to help people after Harvey.”