| Eniva one step closer to moving headquarters to Anoka |
|
|
| Wednesday, 19 September 2007 | ||
|
This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
Union Editor Anoka’s City Council took a step on Monday that will eventually bring Eniva Corporation’s headquarters to the city’s industrial park. The quickly expanding nutraceutical company Eniva Corp. is currently operating out of three leased locations in Blaine but has an offer to purchase what is commonly known as the “Cornelius property” in Anoka’s industrial park. The property located along Highway 10 at the entrance to the Anoka Enterprise Park has been vacant since 2002. A nearly $15 million investment is expected on the property, which includes the purchase of the 26-acre parcel, demolition of a portion of the 430,000-square-foot building, complete renovation of the interior and exterior of the remaining building space as well as major landscape improvements. Many of the Anoka’s council members described the move as an exciting re-use of the property. “I truly like to reward people for doing improvements that benefit the community and bring in jobs,” said Councilmember Mark Freeburg of the city’s willingness to provide tax relief as a away to bring new business into town. “This is the greatest thing we can do as a small government.” The tax abatement agreement refunds the city portion of tax increases Premier Anoka, LLC, a new entity formed to hold the real estate which consists of the Eniva Ownership, Premier Commercial Real Estate and Amcon Construction, would incur over the next 10 years. The city’s portion of the tax abatement will be a maximum of $50,000 per year, capped at $500,000 over the lifetime of the agreement. The city assessor estimates that the total taxes will increase more than $117,000 per year on the property, reported Robert Kirchner, Anoka’s community development director. The agreement does come with strings attached. According to Kirchner Eniva must complete the renovation of the building by Dec. 31, 2008, and create at least 75 new jobs at a minimum wage of $25 per hour within the first two years of the agreement. Eniva develops, manufactures and distributes natural dietary supplement products through 350,000 home-based business consultants in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Mexico and Puerto Rico. From 2004 to 2006 the company reported revenue growth of 371 percent and at a previous city council meeting Eniva Chief Executive Officer Andrew Baechler, who co-founded the company with his brother Ben, said 2006 revenues were $70 million. Currently 170 employees work out of Eniva’s three locations in Blaine. Monday’s decision to approve the business subsidy followed a required public hearing, at which Jim Winkles of Amcon Construction represented Premier Anoka, LLC. Winkles reported that the group could close on the purchase of the property as early as today (Friday, Sept. 21) or as late as Tuesday, Sept. 25. He said if everything falls into place, Eniva will start moving product into the warehouse space and site work will begin very soon. “We look forward to being a good neighbor,” said Winkles. Winkles was the only person to take the floor at the public hearing, speaking on behalf of the entity, including Eniva owners Andrew and Benjamin Baechler, who were out of the country at the time of the hearing. The motion was made to establish the tax abatement, contingent on a development agreement that allows the city of Anoka right of way to develop a road through a portion of the property. This road development would work with Premier Anoka, LLC’s plan to subdivide a portion of the property for resale. The tax abatement applies only to the property occupied by Eniva Corp. and not these subdivided parcels of land. Mandy Moran Froemming is at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it |
||
| < Prev | Next > |
|---|