Bartow Gives Land, Incentives for voestalpine

For a , Bartow County agreed to give newcomer voestalpine land and tax breaks, according to a memorandum of understanding signed last week by Commissioner Clarence Brown.

voestalpine Stamptee, a division of the Austrian-based, international metal-working company, agreed to build in Highland 75 near Cartersville an up to 200,000-square-foot factory on 32 acres for the of certain stamped-metal components, transmission and power train parts.

The facility could be operational by July 2013, Rome News-Tribune reported. It could also draw at least two other companies looking to build plants in close proximity to voestalpine's new Bartow County site, Brown told the newspaper.

In addition to applying for a $275,000 grant on behalf of voestalpine, and the 's Joint Development Authority agreed to issue bonds to fund construction of the plant and to be repaid by voestalpine with lease payments.

To induce voestalpine to locate its facility in Bartow, the JDA also agreed to:

• Give the company 15 acres of land in industrial park Highland 75, which is valued at $375,000, and the option to purchase up to about 17 adjacent acres for $25,000 per acre.
• Foot the bill and help complete permitting, zoning, infrastructure and temporary water. The county will waive water and sewer tap fees.
• "Facilitate, assist and coordinate discussions in regards to providing a direct rail serve to the Highland 75 Industrial Park and/or rail service via a transfer station," according to the agreement.
• Name a Highland 75 roadway to be built "Voestalpine Parkway."

In the agreement, voestalpine also gets a break on property taxes—15 years on real property and 10 years on personal property, both based on an increasing abatement percentage schedule.

Find all the details in the MOU, which is attached to this article.

Last year, Bartow's development authority for LakePoint Sporting Community & Town Center. The county also agreed to give LakePoint 10 years of property tax abatements, much as it did for , which have brought hundreds of jobs to Bartow.

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