The Worcester City Council is expected to approve a 20-year tax break for a new facility scheduled to be built in the South Worcester Industrial Park for research-and-development, high-tech industrial and other uses.
The 3.5-acre city-owned parcel is now vacant but is surrounded by quick developments popping up in the SWIP with Table Talk Pies breaking ground last fall on a 50,000-square-foot, 1-million-pies-per-week facility on a neighboring property.
The City Council is being asked to approve a tax break that will save Armory Business Center LLC 70 percent off its property taxes over a two-decade span, an estimated $986,000. The city has estimated that with a higher property value, the site will still bring the city an additional $486,000 over that period.
The tax-break request will go before the council Tuesday night.
Armory Business Center has proposed spending nearly $1.6 million on a 20,500-square-foot building with 10 suites for businesses in high-tech industrial, manufacturing or research-and-development. The business center is now located at 40 Jackson St. in the Ivy Corset Building, which is at full occupancy. It is run by developer Steven Rothschild.
The proposed facility will increase the city’s supply of modern, small-manufacturing space and create at least 32 permanent full-time jobs, according to City Manager Edward Augustus.
South Worcester Industrial Park is an 11-acre former brownfield site between Clark University and Interstate 290.
