ANDERSON — When Patrick and Mary Geer saw their Cabinet’s Plus business outgrow its location on Home Avenue, the couple made the decision to stay in Anderson.
Mary Geer told members of the Anderson City Council on Thursday during their request for a three-year tax abatement to expand the business that they knew a year ago a new location was required.
“We needed to decide to stay in Anderson or move out of Anderson,” she said. “We made the decision to purchase a building in May and stay.”
The couple purchased the former 39,150-square-foot American Playground building at 6406 Production Drive.
The building has been vacant since 2009 and has been listed at a sales price of $968,000 over the past three years.
Geer said the company started in 2001 with two employees and currently employs 18 people, with the hope of hiring up to seven additional employees in a year.
Michael Frischkorn, deputy director of the Anderson Economic Development Department, said the company is making $150,000 in improvements.
He said the exact amount of the requested tax abatement won’t be known until the assessed value is determined.
Cabinets Plus intends to add five jobs with an average salary of $14.42 per hour.
The requested tax abatement was the result of a change in state law that allows for a tax abatement on an industrial property that has been vacant.
Councilman David Eicks raised several concerns about the abatement because a tax abatement was granted to American Playground when the building was first constructed.
His concern was that a tax abatement could be granted into the future on a vacant commercial property.
The council voted unanimously for passage of the abatement.
Council members also approved a three-year abatement for MoFab Inc. for the purchase of new equipment.
MoFab Inc., 1415 Fairview St., is purchasing a water jet machine at a cost of $302,438. The family-owned business has been operating for more than 50 years.
The company plans to create two new job opportunities with an average salary of $18.70 per hour.
Max Haines with MoFab said there is only one other water jet machine in Indiana with the level of sophistication the company purchased and that is at the Rolls Royce facility in Indianapolis.
Haines said the company has already hired a new employee.
The standard abatement starts at 100 percent of personal property and real estate for the first year and is phased out over three years.