RDC unanimous in support of Crown Equipment project

A proposed tax abatement project in which Crown Equipment Corp. would expand into the 100,000-square-foot former TechnoTrim building at the corner of Fillmore Road and State Road 240 in Greencastle earned the support of the Greencastle Redevelopment Commission (RDC) in a special meeting Wednesday evening.

The RDC unanimously passed a resolution approving the site as an economic revitalization area for Crown Equipment, taking the same action the City Council did at its March meeting as the first step toward making new equipment Crown will put in the old TechnoTrim plant eligible for tax abatement.

State statute requires Redevelopment Commission action on such a request, Mayor Bill Dory explained, if the Council is granting abatement to a company within the redevelopment area.

“You’re not approving the specific abatement,” Dory told the RDC, explaining that its members instead were giving the City Council permission to grant abatement on the Crown project.

Crown has not released specific investment numbers or job-creation figures for the project. Those should be finalized and made public at the City Council meeting on Thursday, April 13 (7 p.m., City Hall).

The new equipment and job creation is expected to be spread over a five-year period, Dory said.

The old TechnoTrim building at 2601 E. State Road 240 is located just across Indianapolis Road from the main Crown facility. The building was among the earliest facilities built in the aftermath of the IBM departure in 1987.

After TechnoTrim ceased operations in Greencastle, Dixie Chopper warehoused its lawn mowers there for several years in the early 2000s. IAC later took over the site, utilizing it until this past January when it moved out of the building to consolidate operations back under one roof one door down along Fillmore Road.

Crown is expected initially to lease the facility from Force Holdings Co. Harold Force of Columbus built the facility and has owned it since it opened in 1988 when TechnoTrim manufactured car seats.

The RDC motion to approve the resolution was passed by a 4-0 vote with Drew Brattain, Gary Lemon, Lottie Barcus and Erika Gilmore voting in favor and Gwen Morris abstaining since her husband is employed at Crown.

The RDC also approved a motion in fewer of the potential use of an estimated $46,000 in training funds for Crown Equipment spread over a three-year period. The funds would be used to match state training funds, Dory said.

The 4-0 vote was identical to the earlier resolution.

In other business, the RDC:

-- Heard Dory report that he and others will meet with the architect on the community center project next week to begin setting up schedules and plan for further activity on the potential project.

-- Gave Dory approval to get maintenance bids on blocked or blown-out 50- or 60-year-old farm tiles on the airport property.

The next meeting of the RDC is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, April 26 at City Hall.