Amarr seeks city-backed financing to buy Greenway Circle plant
Amarr wants Lawrence to back a $35 million bond deal so it can buy its Greenway Circle plant. City papers say that move could unlock a second facility and up to 75 new jobs.
Amarr is asking Lawrence for city-backed financing to buy the Greenway Circle plant it already leases, a move the company says would help secure its future in the city and set up a possible expansion next door. The request would allow the city to issue up to $35 million in Industrial Revenue Bonds for the 440,000-square-foot property at 3800 Greenway Circle, while the city itself would not take on the debt.
That distinction is central to the proposal. The bonds would work as conduit financing, with Amarr responsible for repayment and Lawrence providing the tax-advantaged structure. City materials say Amarr’s future expansion in Lawrence is unlikely without ownership of the property, and the company has linked the purchase to eventual capital investment of $25 million to $35 million and 50 to 75 new jobs.
The plant is already running around the clock, and there is no room to expand inside the current building. Amarr is also considering a second facility on the nearly 10-acre lot next to the plant in East Hills Business Park, but the company says that plan depends on securing the property and financing structure it wants. For Lawrence, the question is whether helping Amarr buy the site now is a reasonable trade for retaining and potentially growing one of the city’s biggest industrial employers later.
The company’s local footprint is already large. City and economic-development materials say Amarr has been in East Hills Business Park for more than 35 years, became the first occupant of the park’s first spec building after moving there in 1989, and now employs more than 700 workers locally. Those jobs are tied to a company that generates about $242 million annually in Lawrence and $700 million in annual sales overall. A gain of 50 to 75 jobs would be meaningful, but it would still represent a modest increase atop an existing workforce that already anchors the industrial park.
The city’s own incentive policy gives commissioners a familiar framework to evaluate the deal. Lawrence says Industrial Revenue Bonds are a standard Kansas economic-development tool for manufacturing projects, and its property tax abatement policy allows abatements for up to 10 years. Under the Amarr proposal, payments in lieu of taxes would start at 100 percent of current tax levels and rise 2.25 percent each year during the 10-year tax-exempt period, so local governments would keep receiving revenue even as the company gets more predictable costs.
Lawrence has seen Amarr at this same address before. City records show officials were already considering a tax abatement for the company at 3800 Greenway Circle in 2003. The City Commission is set to take up the request at its regular Tuesday meeting, which starts at 5:45 p.m., and the vote will show whether leaders see Amarr’s plant as a case for retention, expansion and another long-term bet on East Hills Business Park.
Know something we missed? Have a correction or additional information?
Submit a Tip
