State panel OKs $120M for $3.2B auto manufacturing facility
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
The state budget committee on Friday approved $120 million for the Indiana Economic Development Corp. to close a deal to bring a $3.2B auto manufacturing facility to north-central Indiana, but it's still unclear what company is behind the project.
Mark Wasky, senior vice president of community affairs for the IEDC, declined to share the name of the company. He said it will be north of Indianapolis, but not in the massive Limitless Exploration/Advanced Pace District in Lebanon. He declined to share more specific details about the location.
"With this project in particular, there was an elevated level of concern about any information being released public prior to the company notifying their shareholders and having a public announcement," Wasky said.
Openings and closings: See what came, went around Indy in July
The company and the deal
The relevant company is in the "advanced technology automotive components sector." The IEDC anticipates announcing the project within the next year. The advanced auto manufacturing facility will create 1,400 high-paying jobs.
The unnamed company has accepted the IEDC's offer and in order to finalize the agreement, the IEDC needed to have access to its incentive funding, Wasky said. The $120 million incentive will be distributed over the next eight years and dependent on the company meeting benchmarks related to jobs, wages and performance.
If the deal does not go through, the incentive funding will revert back into the pool and will be available to be used for other projects, Wasky said at the meeting.
This project will raise investment in Indiana's auto manufacturing industry as a whole to over $9 billion, Wasky said.
"By establishing impactful investment tools, Indiana has attracted unprecedented investment in future-focused industries, and has empowered the organization to pursue transformative investments like this that'll benefit the state for years to come," Wasky said.
Lawmaker concerns
Three Democratic lawmakers from Indianapolis, Sen. Fady Qaddoura, Rep. Ed DeLaney and Rep. Greg Porter raised questions about transparency from the IEDC, a quasi-public government agency. The IEDC, the Democratic representatives said, repeatedly asks for millions of dollars in funding and incentives without revealing specific project details.
“I’m still very concerned about the transparency of what’s happening, particularly with some of the leadership within the state that allocates those dollars, and therefore, how we can be involved and just know what is going on in general,” Porter said.
Republicans did not share those concerns.
Sen. Chris Garten, R-Charlestown, and Rep. Jeff Thompson, R-Lizton, said that the IEDC is bound by federal securities laws that dictate what the agency can reveal publicly, as well as non-disclosure agreements at multiple levels.
“In today’s development space, speed is the new incentive,” Garten said. “And I think the ask today is us basically fulfilling our end of the commitment in the speed sense.”
Indiana development news: $460M, 200-acre development planned near Greenfield airport
$500M 'deal closing fund'
The IEDC is flush with deal-making cash right now.
In the state budget, approved in April, lawmakers appropriated $500 million to the IEDC for a "deal closing fund" to enable the quasi-public agency to attract companies to the state. However, the IEDC can only access these funds after review from the state budget committee.
In June, the IEDC requested $122 million to acquire about 1,000 acres of property in the hopes of closing a deal with a global semiconductor company looking for a location for a $50 billion investment.
The unnamed semiconductor company is considering Indiana, as well as one other Midwestern state, and IEDC expects the final decision later this year. Wasky was not able to share any updates in Friday's meeting, saying that negotiations with the unnamed company were still underway.
Got a tip about business or development? Contact reporter Claire Rafford at 317-617-3402 or email crafford@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: State panel OKs $120M for $3.2B auto manufacturing facility
