City Council Agenda and Packet 2015 06 02

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City„ Louisville COLORADO • SINCE 1878 CITY COUNCIL COMMUNICATION AGENDA ITEM 5C SUBJECT: RESOLUTION NO. 33, SERIES 2015 —A RESOLUTION APPROVING A BUSINESS ASSISTANCE AGREEMENT WITH FRESCA FOODS, INC. FOR AN ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT PROJECT IN THE CITY OF LOUISVILLE DATE: JUNE 2, 2015 PRESENTED BY: AARON DEJONG, ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT SUMMARY: Staff requests City Council action on a proposed Economic Development Business Assistance Package (BAP) for the Fresca Food's expansion at 1775 Cherry Street in Louisville. The proposed business assistance is similar in nature to others recently granted, including a partial rebate on both the building permit fees and construction use taxes for improving an existing building at 1775 Cherry Street in the City of Louisville. DISCUSSION: Fresca Foods is a Louisville based food manufacturing company that specializes in all natural and organic ready to eat snacks. They manufacture products for several food companies on a contractual basis, as well as products branded for the Company. The company was founded in 1993 originally as a pasta manufacturer and has evolved into a 325 person company. The company is considering a major expansion to increase their production capacity to satisfy the next several years of expected growth. 1775 Cherry Street is an industrial /flex building in the Colorado Technology Center (CTC) where they currently have some operations in the building. They would be taking over vacant space in the building and make improvements so manufacturing can occur at the site. This expansion project will have 50 -75 new employees within the first year, and within 5 years, the project expects to have 160 employees in two shifts. Fresca Foods has significant tenant improvements associated with the potential expansion at 1775 Cherry Street. The company estimates $1,500,000 to $2,000,000 in tenant improvement costs to modify approximately 50,000 square feet of the building for their operations. The company is also considering an Aurora location. Fresca has their distribution operations in Aurora and the Company is considering whether to keep manufacturing growth all in one place (Louisville) or do expansions closer to their distribution channels. The company meets the general criteria by which assistance may be granted in accordance with the Business Assistance Policy. The company's average wages as a whole are higher than the County average wage, however the average wages of jobs CITY COUNCIL COMMUNICATION 22