Ascena going before City Council for possible additional tax abatement

Thursday, November 5, 2015

Six months after cutting a ribbon on its renovated and expanded facilities in the old IBM Corp. building in Greencastle, Ascena Retail Group could soon be at it again.

Ascena is scheduled to go before the Greencastle City Council Tuesday night (7 p.m. at City Hall) to request further real and personal property tax abatement as the company considers another potential expansion project.

The possible new investment would mean additional jobs at Ascena, which is fresh from expanding its Greencastle facility into an 800,000-square-foot e-commerce fulfillment center.

However, Greencastle remains in competition with a potential West Coast site for the latest Ascena expansion, Greencastle/Putnam County Development Center Director and Mayor-elect Bill Dory told the Redevelopment Commission Tuesday morning,

"We're competing with some other communities," Dory said, for what could be a two-phase project undertaken by the retail group.

Ascena purchased the former F. B. Distro facility on Greencastle's East Side from Charming Shoppes in 2012 to create the Greencastle Fulfillment Center serving five of Ascena's brands -- Dressbarn, Maurices, Justice, Lane Bryant and Catherines.

And further expansion of both the building and the workforce is seen, Dory said, if the company chooses Greencastle as the location for shipping additional brands.

Back on May 14, Ascena conducted a celebration ribbon-cutting and open house at its expanded facility now home to 350 employees.

As Ascena considers its potential expansion, Dory said his office has been assisting with application to the state for further employment incentives.

The Greencastle Redevelopment Commission was asked Thursday morning to consider Resolution 2015-8 reaffirming the Ascena site on the north side of Indianapolis Road as an economic revitalization area for the company, which is considered a leading specialty retailer of apparel for women and tween girls.

The resolution was passed unanimously on a motion by Gary Lemon and added affirmative votes from Gwen Morris, Drew Brattain, Tanis Monday and Erika Gilmore.

The City Council will consider the Ascena request at both its Tuesday, Nov. 10 meeting and a special session on Nov. 17.

Specific investment and employment numbers are expected to be made public at the Council meeting Tuesday night.

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  • It is hard for me to understand why we keep giving away tax money at an alarming rate to businesses that are really making empty promises of jobs for people that dont exist. Factories and our big box store now cant get enough employees to man their operations why do we want to give what is probably another 10 year tax abatement to another empty promise. This has got to stop and we need to tell these companies either you want to be here or you dont we are tired of giving up our tax money to you when we can certainly use it for our citizens instead.

    -- Posted by danny1 on Fri, Nov 6, 2015, at 7:56 AM
  • guess you have not driven past the facility or check the want ads in the banner that they are hiring and if you check their website you will see that they have 8 clothing brands now!!

    -- Posted by luvmycountry on Fri, Nov 6, 2015, at 3:30 PM
  • Danny1: I would recommend going to a city council meeting so you know how tax abatement works.

    Ask questions. It might surprise you.

    -- Posted by localman on Thu, Nov 12, 2015, at 7:53 PM
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