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City will spend nearly $7 million; company will stay in area, add 377 jobs
By Carl Chancellor
Beacon Journal staff writer
Published on Tuesday, Jul 08, 2008
Akron will ante up nearly $7 million to purchase land to help InfoCision, a Bath Township teleservices firm, expand and add almost 400 local jobs.
The council voted unanimously Monday to approve the $6.75 million purchase of two parcels of land, totaling about 7 acres, in the Bath-Akron-Fairlawn joint economic development district off Interstate 77. The land would then be sold to InfoCision with the city providing loan financing for the purchase over 23 years.
In exchange, InfoCision has promised to retain its headquarters in the JEDD for at least the next 15 years and will add at least 377 more jobs during that period to its current 600-person work force.
''There were several other communities going after them [InfoCision]. With this deal, we are able to keep them here,'' said Councilwoman Terry Albanese, Ward 6, who chairs the council's economic development committee.
Albanese said the new jobs will pay about $40,000 a year.
Roughly two-thirds of InfroCision's employees are Akron residents. It is expected that at least 200 of the promised new jobs will go to city residents.
As part of the agreement, Akron would forgive the principal and interest on the loan if InfoCision meets at least 80 percent of its job commitment goal, about 301 jobs by year six of the loan.
However, if the company fails to reach its employment expansion goal, the city would collect the full promissory note plus interest, Albanese said.
According to InfoCision officials, the land will be added to about 8 acres already owned by the firm in the JEDD to create a 15-acre business campus, which will feature a new $10.5 million, 160,000-square-foot corporate headquarters building.
In addition to new office space and a call center, the planned facility will house an employee wellness center, an auditorium, an on-site physician program and an employee day care center.
InfoCision, the second-largest privately held teleservices firm in the country, operates 27 call centers at 15 locations in Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia, employing about 3,500 people.
Steve Brubaker, InfoCision vice president of corporate affairs, said he is pleased his company will continue its relationship with Akron.
''We appreciate the leadership of the mayor and City Council,'' Brubaker said. He said InfoCision has been working on a deal to expand its headquarters for three years.
''We are glad that process has come to an end and that we can retain our roots right here,'' Brubaker said.
InfoCision, which was established in 1983, has an annual payroll of roughly $24 million.
Bath Township receives property taxes from the businesses in the JEDD, and Akron and Fairlawn split the income taxes of employees. Akron's share is about $2.4 million a year.
In other business, the council gave final approval to a $2.1 million deal to settle the debt of businessman David Brennan's Downtown Hotel Co., which owns the Radisson Hotel.
The city agreed to accept $2.1 million in cash to satisfy the loan and bond repayment obligations of the hotel.
In 1995, the city put together a $2.9 million loan package for the ailing hotel, which included renovating it and upgrading the site. Brennan's Downtown Hotel Co. hadn't made a loan repayment to the city since 2005.
Before this last offer, the company offered the city a cash settlement of $1.8 million and 50 parking spaces said to be worth $500,000.
''Cash is always better,'' said Councilman Mike Freeman, after voting to approve Brennan's latest offer.
Carl Chancellor can be reached at 330-996-3725 or cchancellor@thebeaconjournal.com.
Akron will ante up nearly $7 million to purchase land to help InfoCision, a Bath Township teleservices firm, expand and add almost 400 local jobs.
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