NAPPANEE — Expansion plans are in the works for a Nappanee business following the approval of a five-year tax abatement.
Officials with Newmar Industries, 355 Delaware St., want to move and expand the company's service facility to a location at 1301 Stahly Drive. Newmar is planning to make a $5,062,000 real property investment and a $2,758,000 personal property investment, including manufacturing equipment, logistics, distribution equipment and informational technology equipment. The company expects to add at least 13 full-time positions with an average rate of $33.24 per hour.
At last month’s Nappanee City Council meeting, Joe Shoemaker, vice president of administration told council members the company has a couple of goals with this expansion. He said they want to combine their service operations that are currently “scattered all over” and get the service technicians and parts department all in one place.
Shoemaker said they also want to increase the number of service bays from 35 to 50. In doing so, Newmar officials hope to decrease the wait time for their service warranty work and increase their ability to offer extra service and after sales, according to Shoemaker. He said they’ll be taking the existing 50,000-square-foot facility and adding 80,000 square feet plus another 28,000 for office space.
The phase-in for both the real and personal property is 100 percent for the first year and decreasing by 20 percent each year until the fifth year.
A public hearing was held on the tax abatement and while there were a few members of the public present, no one commented.
Last month the council approved the declaratory resolution, which led to the public hearing and the confirmatory resolution that the council unanimously approved Monday.
Mayor Phil Jenkins said Newmar would still be responsible for filing required paperwork each year of the five-year phase-in.