Tax incentive expands Schaumburg business

The lure of a Cook County property tax incentive is bringing an expansion to Gonnella Baking Co.’s Schaumburg location instead of others in Aurora and Pennsylvania.

But Schaumburg officials first have to sign off on the request for the Class 6B incentive Tuesday night before it moves on to the county board for final approval.

The company is seeking to build a 30,298-square-foot addition on the west side of its existing 66,000-square-foot facility at 1117 E. Wiley Road. The new space will consist mainly of freezer and dry storage space, which will cut down on the current costs of leasing freezer space elsewhere, company officials said.

Though Gonnella’s corporate headquarters are in Chicago, its Frozen Products Division is based in Schaumburg.

The proposal also seeks an additional 66 parking spaces to accommodate the transfer of 37 full-time employees and the hiring of five new ones.

Tom Marcucci, Gonnella’s vice president of sales, said the Class 6B tax incentive definitely tipped the scale in favor of Schaumburg and Cook County over Aurora or Hazelton, Pa.

“We were going to do another freezer somewhere,” Marcucci said. “It was just a question of where.”

The Class 6B incentive for industrial uses reduces the level of assessment on the property from 25 percent to 10 percent for 10 years, resulting in a reduction of property taxes by about half during that period.

The level of assessment gradually rises during the 11th and 12th years of the incentive before returning to normal.

In Gonnella’s case, the incentive will affect only the addition, not the original building, Schaumburg Economic Development Coordinator Matt Frank said.

While Schaumburg doesn’t offer sales tax incentives for stores because of the village’s strong retail environment, the Class 6B property tax incentive for industrial businesses is offered to keep competitive in that market, Frank said.