Ascena granted abatement on $62 million in new equipment

Converting the former F.B. Distro (Charming Shoppes) distribution center into the new Ascena Retail Group e-commerce facility on Greencastle's East Side will require more and better equipment and additional investment than originally expected.

Consequently, the Greencastle City Council has revised its resolution granting tax abatement to Ascena on its new equipment for the corporate entity to be known as GC Fulfillment LLC.

The Council Tuesday night unanimously adopted Resolution 2014-4, approving the Ascena request on tax abatement for $62 million in equipment at the 1901 E. State Road 240 site that once housed the Greencastle IBM facility.

The original proposed investment, approved for abatement in September 2012, was for $34 million in new equipment. That has now been increased to $62 million, which breaks down to $50 million in logistics and distribution equipment and an additional $12 million in IT equipment.

The project provides for the retention of 181 Ascena employees, and as promised in the 2012 abatement request, ultimately will still mean 240 additional jobs by the end of the decade.

City Council members Adam Cohen, Jinsie Bingham, Phyllis Rokicki and T.J. Smith unanimously granted Ascena 10-year abatement on the new equipment (starting at 100 percent in year one and ending at 10 percent abatement in year 10). Councilor Mark Hammer was absent from the April session at City Hall.

"We're glad to have Ascena making additional investment in our community," Greencastle/Putnam County Development Center Director Bill Dory offered in addressing the City Council on the project.

Dory noted that the additional investment will, over the life of the abatement, mean an added $1 million in tax dollars locally with taxpayers likely seeing a lower city tax rate as the major effect.

The tax abatement granted Tuesday night is just for equipment and does not affect the real estate and building owned by Ascena.

The transitioning of the former F.B. Distro facility into the GC Fulfillment e-commerce venture is nearly complete, Dory told the Council, noting that Ascena recently "shipped its last box to retailers."

The new mission now will be to begin shipping to e-customers who have ordered the company's products online. That is expected to begin before the end of the month.

Ascena, considered a leading specialty retailer of apparel for women and tween girls, acquired Charming Shoppes in June 2012. Through its subsidiaries, it operates the distribution needs of such company brands as Catherines, Lane Bryant, maurices, dressbarn and Justice.

The company has invested in material-handling equipment and IT systems to transform the 126-acre Greencastle campus into its national e-commerce fulfillment center.

"We have been thoughtfully developing strategies that would best use our distribution centers across the country and enable us to provide superior service levels to our stores and customers," Ascena Group President and CEO David Jaffe said in announcing the transition plan earlier this year.

Online sales are the company's fastest-growing segment, Jaffe said, adding that efficient e-commerce distribution "is a critical component of our ability to serve our customers."