By a 6-0 vote, Fenton City Council approved a resolution to approve an industrials facilities tax exemption application for Niles Industrial Coatings, LLC. The approval also gives the city manager the authority to sign all documents for completion of the company’s Industrial Facilities Tax (IFT) five-year abatement package to be submitted to the State of Michigan.

Councilman Scott Grossmeyer had been excused from the meeting, held via a Zoom conference call.

Niles Industrial Coatings headquarters is at 201 S. Alloy, Fenton. The company also has offices in Midland, as well as Illinois, Florida, Arizona, Tennessee and California.

A public hearing was held before the vote, however, there was no public comment.

For the past several years, Niles Industrial Coatings in Fenton has contemplated making a substantial investment in its operations. This is according to a Nov. 2, memo from Michael Hart, assistant Fenton city manager and downtown development authority (DDA) executive director to Lynn Markland, Fenton city manager.

Hart said that with much consideration and discussion of making an out-of-state investment versus in the state, Niles Industrial Coatings decided to invest in Michigan.

This decision was facilitated by an incentives package through the Michigan Economic Development Corporation. As part of this, there is a contribution from the local unit of government and Niles Industrial Coating submission to encompass this.

Hart said the investment will substantially benefit the city of Fenton, along with the company’s Midland operations. This includes investment in site improvement, personal property and job creation.

Per the Industrial Facilities Tax (IFT) application submission to the city dated July 13, Niles Industrial Coatings will make a minimum real property investment of $1,385,000, personal property investment of $170,000 (total of $1,555,000) and create 20 new jobs at its city of Fenton corporate headquarters.

Scott Avendt, vice president of operations for Niles, was present during the Zoom meeting. He told council members that the company expects to hire more than 20 new employees and that jobs and wages would range from $15-$16 working in the warehouse to high level jobs earning as much as $95,000 per year.

Avendt thanked the council for its support following the vote.

The current building is 6,000 square feet of office space. There are tenants in the building, who are using a portion of the office space and renting from Niles Real Estate. In plans submitted by the company, its intent is to move the tenants to another section of the building that they will remodel to fit their needs. Niles Industrial Coatings will absorb the space they occupied, remodel the space and redesign the existing building.

The total cost of renovation is estimated to be between $1.8 and $2.1 million.