The council will be asked to approve nearly $500,000 in tax breaks for F.W. Webb next week.
Michael A. FentonSPRINGFIELD – With a deadline approaching for securing a city tax break, F.W. Webb officials have agreed to meet with East Springfield residents to discuss plans for an $9 million heating and plumbing distribution center and showroom off Roosevelt Avenue.
City Councilor Michael A. Fenton urged company officials to take their relocation and expansion plan to the East Springfield Neighborhood Council before asking the council to approve nearly $500,000 in tax breaks next week.
In moving from its Plainfield Street building to a larger site in the Springfield Smith & Wesson Industrial Park, the company plans to invest about $9 million, and create at eight new jobs immediately, and as many as 40 eventually.
Under an agreement negotiated with the city economic development officials, F.W. Webb would pay $820,000 in taxes over a 10-year period and be exempted from an additional $496,867 .
If the tax incentives win approval from the council, the company hopes to begin construction this summer. Without council approval this month, the company cannot get state approval until at least September, leaving too little time for construction in the fall.
During a meeting of the council’s planning and economic development committee Wednesday, Fenton told F.W. Webb he would not consider voting on the tax exemption until the company discusses its plan with the East Springfield neighborhood group.
“They’ll want to know the truck routes, how many trucks, what the hours (of operation) are,” said Fenton, adding: “There’s still some work to do.”
Councilor Timothy C. Allen added that councilors routinely solicit the views of neighborhood groups on new projects, adding: “It’s just City Council 101.”
The company’s general manager, Michael J. Kennedy, said the new facility would cause minimal disruption to the neighborhood, with only a few trucks leaving and arriving daily. The site has also received environmental approval from the city and state, and is awaiting a decision from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers regarding wetlands on the site.
Under the plan, the company will purchase 14.3 acres at the city-owned industrial park for $1 million to build a distribution center and showroom in two phases, costing about $8 million. Each phase will be about 65,000 square feet.
If the plan is approved, F.W. Webb will become the second tenant of the industrial park. The city bought the land from Smith & Wesson in 2006, adjacent to the site, and secured its first tenant, Performance Food Group, in 2007.
Based in Bedford, the wholesale plumbing and heating distributor has 70 locations in New England and Northeast, including Springfield, Northampton, Greenfield and Pittsfield; 8 people are currently employed at the Springfield center.