Donovan Estridge, Madison Courier Staff Writer
Arvin Sango apparently has decided it wants to expand its plant in Madison. The company received Madison Redevelopment Commission approval Wednesday to conduct preliminary surveys on city-owned property that Arvin Sango wants to buy at Wilson Avenue and Hutchinson Lane.
Dan Baughman, vice president of Arvin Sango Inc., said this morning that the company's plans hinge on obtaining land. He said he couldn't discuss its plans now because there aren't any until there is land. The company is bidding on the city-owned land, he said.
In January, the Madison City Council approved a tax phase-in requested by Arvin Sango. The tax phase-in was meant as an incentive for Arvin Sango to choose its Madison plant for a $12 million expansion instead of its plant in Campbellsburg, Ky.
After the city acquired the land several years ago, the redevelopment commission took charge of it with the intention of recruiting manufacturing to Madison.
The city by law cannot just sell property without first advertising its desire to sell. City attorney Rob Barlow told the Redevelopment Commission that the land must be advertised for up to 10 days.
Barlow said the city should require that the land be sold only to a buyer who would promise to build at least an 18,000-square-foot building, employ at least 100, and begin construction immediately. When the tax phase-in was requested, Baughman told the City Council that an expanded Madison plant would expect to employ 40 initially and 100 eventually.
"We hope to encourage manufacturing and create job growth," Barlow said after the meeting. "Someone other than Arvin Sango can buy the land, but they have to build manufacturing."
Arvin Sango's manufacturing of auto parts is expected to get a big boost when Honda Indiana begins production at the plant it is building in Greensburg.
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