EDA approves over $300K in incentives for Takeform expansion

By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 13 January 2018 at 10:23 am

MEDINA – The Orleans Economic Development Agency on Friday approved about $300,000 in incentives to help facilitate an expansion at Takeform Architectural Graphics.

The EDA board of directors also agreed to sell ¾ of an acre of vacant land to Takeform for $7,500. That land is needed for the 15,500-square-foot expansion and for a parking lot with 40 spaces.

Takeform is doing the expansion behind its current building at 11601 Maple Ridge Rd. The company expects to add 50 full-time jobs over the next three years.

The company currently has 150 employees. That is a significant increase from the nine workers when Takeform started in 2003.

The company will add full-time employees in engineering, graphic design, sales, customer service, project management, machining, fabrication, engraving and assembly. Jim Whipple, the EDA chief executive officer, said the positions will pay an average of $43,000 annually.

Takeform designs and manufactures custom signage and graphics. The expansion will provide manufacturing and design space to accommodate a new business line – the design and printing of products such as custom wall coverings and window films.

Takeform is doing a $2.5 million expansion with a new building, equipment and furnishings. It won’t have to pay taxes on the addition the first year, with 10 percent of the taxes added each following year.

That 10-year PILOT (payment in lieu of taxes) will save the company $222,735 in taxes over 10 years. Takeform will be paying $182,238 in taxes on the addition over the 10 years, which represents new tax revenues on land that is currently vacant.

The company also was approved for a $68,844 sales tax abatement. Takeform won’t have to pay the 8 percent sales tax on $860,552 in taxable purchases.

It also won’t have to pay the 1 percent mortgage tax on a $2.5 million mortgage, which will save the company $25,000.

Altogether, the EDA incentives add up to $316,579.

The company’s total investment with the expansion, salaries and benefits for the new employees over three years, and new taxes totals $20.2 million. Dividing that by the $316,579 in incentives shows a benefit/cost ratio of 63.7 to 1. That is more than three times the EDA’s target of 20 to 1 in a benefit/cost ratio, Whipple said.

The EDA board on Friday also approved a $120,000 loan to Takeform/Quorum Group from the EDA’s revolving loan fund account. That is to be paid back over five years at 75 percent of the prime interest rate, which would be 3.19 percent based on a 4.25 percent prime rate.

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