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In addition to taking action on incentives for Brazilian aerospace company Embraer, the Fort Worth City Council last week also approved a tax abatement to support the local expansion of Americold, one of the largest temperature-controlled warehousing and distribution providers in the world.
The city is entering into a seven-year tax abatement of up to 50% of the incremental value of both the company’s real and business personal property.
Americold is planning a $123 million investment to expand its location at 4900 Blue Mound Road.
The company is committing to creating 85 full-time jobs by December 2025, with an annual average salary of more than $65,000. In addition, 15% of construction costs for the expansion would go toward business equity firms.
Americold currently employs 15,000 people and has 239 locations worldwide. Four of those locations are already in Fort Worth, along with single sites in Dallas, Grand Prairie, and Mansfield.
The project is expected to generate more than $2.5 million in gross new net taxes for the city each year, essentially paying back the incentive in a little less than three and a half years.
Cold storage warehousing involves storing perishable or other sensitive goods like food, medicine or specialized products in climate-controlled environments. National trends, such as an increase in e-commerce and supply chain onshoring, have created increased demand for cold storage.
Fort Worth is currently underserved in cold storage facilities, which play a critical role in strong supply chains. Existing facilities in Fort Worth are at nearly 99% occupancy, which limits capacity for new clients, and no cold storage units were under construction in the city as of the fourth quarter of 2023.
Americold’s expansion would not only provide additional cold storage bandwidth for companies on the western side of the DFW Metroplex, but it would also strengthen Fort Worth’s logistics industry and healthcare industry, as medical professionals rely on cold storage to transport medication, equipment and other temperature-sensitive supplies.
The City Council also approved seven-year deal with Embraer. The abatement is up to 50% of the incremental value of both the company’s real and business personal property.
The project is expected to generate more than $1.2 million in gross net new taxes for the city, essentially paying back the incentive in a little more than three years.
As part of its obligations, the company is committing to creating 250 full-time jobs by December 2029, with an expected annual average salary of at least $67,000. Additionally, 15% of construction costs would go toward business equity firms.