An Ohio-based freight shipping company has revealed plans to invest more than $30 million in a new facility in German Township.
If tax abatements are approved by Bartholomew County officials, R&L Carriers of Wilmington, Ohio, expects to create 79 full time jobs when its new facility becomes operational next summer, according to the company’s tax abatement application.
The logistics operation is expected to grow 10% annually thereafter, with an expected average full time annual wage of at least $53,000, company officials said in their application.
The plans are for R&L Carriers to construct a large cross dock facility, where products from a supplier or manufacturing plant are distributed directly to a customer or retail chain with marginal to no handling or storage time, Greater Columbus Economic Development Corp. President Jason Hester said.
If all goes as planned, the building will be located on Lot 7 in the Meadow Lawn Industrial Park, located north of County Road 800N between Executive Drive and County Road 250W. Plans are to build the facility north of where Old Dominion Freight Lines constructed a similar facility last year, Hester said.
The more than $30 million investment includes over $3.2 million in the purchase of property, about $18.75 million in construction and improvements costs, the purchase of approximately $12 million worth of registered vehicles and trailers and more than $1 million in new equipment, the application states.
In paperwork submitted to the county, R&L Carriers stated their cross dock facility will include:
A 150-door terminal (90,000 square feet)
A five-bay maintenance shop (10,800 square feet)
A four-lane fuel island and office building (5,000 square feet)
Growth potential that could allow up to an additional 120 doors
Since the property is located in a economic revitalization area, R&L Carriers states they will ask county officials to approve a 10-year tax abatement, resulting in a gradual phasing-in of net new taxes associated with the building and equipment. However, tax-funded organizations continue to receive the same level of public funding during an abatement as they did prior to the development.
Established in 1965, R&L Carriers has grown to a fleet of 21,000 tractors and trailers. The company serves all 48 contiguous American states plus Canada, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and the Dominican Republic.
