The city of Gainesville is trying to land an $18.5 million pet food manufacturing facility.
On Tuesday, council members adopted an ordinance to create a reinvestment zone for nearly 28 acres at Gateway Industrial Park.
City Manager Barry Sullivan said the reinvestment zone had to be created before the city could offer a tax abatement to Red River Pet Food, LLC, a sister of Muenster Milling Company.
Muenster Milling Company is a family-owned animal food manufacturer in Muenster.
Co-owner Mitch Felderhoff said the company is looking to separate their pet food from their livestock feed.
The Muenster-based facility would be for livestock feed and the new facility, which Felderhoff estimates will be 100,000 to 120,000 square feet for the first phase, would be solely for pet food.
The commercial tax abatement would be for 50 percent of the city property taxes on the new investment over 10 years. It requires the company to construct an $18.5 million facility and “hire 40 employees over four or five years,” according to Sullivan.
The vote for the tax abatement was unanimous.
According to information provided to council members, Cooke County, North Texas Medical Center and North Central Texas College also will consider granting abatements.
“We think this is a great deal,” Sullivan said. “One of the biggest things to this, besides all the numbers, is that this is one additional company that’s diversification for the city of Gainesville. With the last downturn in the oil and gas industry, we did a lot better than in previous years,” he said.
In addition to the tax abatement, council members approved the actions of the Gainesville Economic Development Corporation to approve Red River Pet Food, LLC as an economic development project at Gateway Industrial Park.
According to a list of proposed incentives, the GEDC would donate 25 acres at Gateway Industrial Park valued at $1 million, grant $4,000 per new job created at $16.50 an hour with benefits and apply for a Texas Capital Fund Infrastructure Grant of $750,000 to $1 million.
The company would be the first developer at Gateway Industrial Park.
Arleene Loyd, executive director of the GEDC, said she is thrilled council members approved the incentives.
“It’s very forward-thinking of Gainesville to approve the reinvestment, the tax incentive and then, of course, support what the GEDC voted on so that when they decide we can move forward and quickly,” Loyd said. “I applaud the city council for doing that.”
During a phone interview Wednesday morning, Felderhoff said a decision should be made “by March 15 at the latest.”
He would not go into details on where else the company is looking to potentially expand. However, Felderhoff did say Gainesville is the only option in the state of Texas they are looking at.
