Explanation
BACKGROUND: The Tax Incentive Review Council (TIRC) recommended on August 25, 2006, that the City dissolve the Enterprise Zone Agreement with Commodity Logistics and CIVFI-OH1BO1, LLC, with 2005 as the final tax year of abatement and no recovery of tax saving from tax years prior to 2005. Commodity Logistics has been unable to achieve its job creation requirements pursuant to the Enterprise Zone Agreement. The City concurs with the TIRC recommendation.
Columbus City Council approved an Enterprise Zone Agreement with Commodity Logistics (tenant), Commodity One, LLC, and CalEast Industrial Investors, LLC (property owners), by Ord. No. 36-00, adopted January 10, 2000. City Council approved an amendment of the Enterprise Zone Agreement to assign the interests of the original property owners to a new property owner, CIVFI-OH1BO1, LLC, by Ord. No. 1920-2003, on July 28, 2003. Commodity Logistics is a third party logistics firm. The project site is the company's headquarters location at 1500 Commodity Boulevard in the Rickenbacker area. The Enterprise Zone Agreement grants a 60%/ 7-yr real property tax abatement (2001-2007), while the tenant and property owners agreed to construct a 500,000 square foot building, to invest $8.5 million in real property investment, $500,000 in a rail extension, $850,000 in personal property investment, and to create 200 full-time jobs with an approximate payroll of $3.24 million. On December 8, 2003, City Council approved Ord. No. 2653-2003, to grant Commodity Logistics two additional years to meet the job creation goal. The new deadline was set at December 31, 2005.
The project has exceeded its real property investment goal, has met most of the personal property investment goal but has been unable to meet the job creation goal. As of December 31, 2005, Commodity Logistics had only 44 jobs at the project site (goal is 200 jobs), with an annual payroll of $2.3 million. The project had been making progress wi...
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