JEFFERSONVILLE — Amatrol Inc. has announced plans to expand its facilities to sustain the company’s growth and is asking the City of Jeffersonville to support the project through tax abatements.
The company plans to renovate a 100,000-square-foot building, increasing its operations by 65%. Amatrol now is at 2400 Centennial Blvd with 150,000 square feet. The proposed expansion would be across the street at 2533 Centennial Blvd.
The project cost is estimated at $8.5 million.
Amatrol is in need of more space to implement new product lines and to accommodate its growth in domestic and international markets over the last decade.
“The things that we do has just seen a huge ramp up over the last couple of years and we think it’s going to continue,” Amatrol President Paul Perkins said.
The Jeffersonville Redevelopment Commission approved real and personal tax abatements for Amatrol at its Wednesday meeting.
Redevelopment commission president Scott Hawkins said that Amatrol is everything the city looks for.
Before the company moves forward with the project, Perkins said they are awaiting approval of the tax abatements from the Jeffersonville City Council. Amatrol is on the Aug. 1 council agenda.
Amatrol is asking for a five-year personal tax abatement and a 10-year real abatement, which would allow for the company to phase taxes in over time as they foot the cost of the project.
“This will be the single biggest capital project that we’ve ever done at one time, so it’s kind of a big lift, but I think it’s gonna be a good thing for us,” Perkins said.
The building at 2533 Centennial Blvd. was formerly Key Electronics but has been vacant. While the space is bigger than what Amatrol was looking for, Perkins said that it can still be a good fit for the company.
Perkins described the building as being unusual in layout, with half of it being dedicated to office space and the other half being mostly lower level manufacturing space. For a company like Amatrol that focuses on creating both virtual training and manufacturing training equipment, Perkins said they can make it work.
The additional space will allow Amatrol to start using automated manufacturing. Moving to this model will allow them to create products quicker, less expensively and at a higher quality, Perkins said.
Amatrol also plans to introduce new product lines in e-learning software and hands-on training equipment for HVAC (heating, ventilation and air-conditioning).
With inconsistencies in the supply chain, Amatrol wants to use the new space to store their products.
Though Perkins said there are plans to renovate the vacated building over the next five years, he said a big pull to the site was its proximity to the other facility. While having everything at one location is ideal, Perkins said they are unable to build much more on their property and right across the street is the next best thing.
Of Amatrol’s 250 employees, 189 of them are Indiana residents.
“We are finding that more and more people are wanting to come to Indiana once they come to work for us,” Perkins said.
The expansion would create 30 new full-time jobs by the end of 2025, all with wages that are higher than Clark County’s average.
An average full time position at Amatrol makes 3.5 times the minimum wage, or around $26 an hour. The 30 new positions would average at $24.75 an hour.
The Indiana Economic Development Corporation has provided support for the project, with up to $250,000 in the form of incentive-based tax credits and up to $50,000 from the Hoosier Business Investment tax credit program.
If the council approves the tax abatements, Perkins said that they will plan to move forward with the project in the next two months.
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