Gonnella’s new addition opens in Schaumburg, adds 40 positions
About 40 new positions are expected to be added in coming months to Gonnella Baking Co.’s expanded plant in Schaumburg, which was unveiled Thursday with Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle, officials said.
Cook County provided roughly $400,000 in tax incentives over 10 years for the estimated $6 million project. The 30,000-square-foot addition should bring more jobs to the area and increase efficiency for the 126-year-old bread company, a company executive said.
The 40 new positions will be a mix of new hires and current workers from other Gonnella offices, which includes its Chicago headquarters and facilities in Aurora and Pennsylvania. This boosts the Frozen Products Division’s Schaumburg workforce to about 160, the company said.
Preckwinkle, who was joined by Schaumburg President Al Larson and about 30 others, sampled some freshly baked bread and even scored bread dough just before it went into the oven.
“By working with businesses to provide tax incentives, we are able to create and keep jobs while helping important, family-owned companies like Gonnella grow right here in Cook County,” Preckwinkle said in a statement during a news conference. “This is part of our broader effort to encourage the residents of Cook County to support our local companies, while centralizing the resources at the county’s disposal to provide incentives for businesses and create jobs.”
The tax incentives were a “significant component” to keeping the facility in Cook County. The company had considered other sites, said Gonnella President Nick Marcucci.
“The incentives provided by President Preckwinkle’s administration tipped the scales in favor of the Schaumburg location,” Marcucci said in a statement.
Preckwinkle aims to help businesses create about 2,500 new jobs in 2012. As of April, the county’s Bureau of Economic Development has provided incentives for more than 1,200 created or retained jobs in Cook County, the office said.
Preckwinkle also rolled out a website for her “Commit to Cook” program aimed at helping local businesses engage the county’s Bureau of Economic Development. The website, www.CommitToCook.com, includes information on tax incentives, zoning restrictions, collaborative grant opportunities and workforce development activities in one location.
Last year, construction began on the Gonnella plant’s addition on the west side of its existing 66,000-square-foot facility at 1117 E. Wiley Road. The new space includes freezer and dry storage space, which will reduce costs of leasing freezer space elsewhere, the company had said.
The expansion increases the company’s overall freezer capacity from 3 million to 4.5 million pounds and will allow sales of both bread and frozen dough.
The expansion also will house ingredients in a dry storage facility, employee services and additional office space.
The Class 6B tax incentive that Gonnella obtained 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.
In Gonnella’s case, the incentive affects the addition, not the original building, which opened in 1980.