Batavia OKs $1.86 million incentive to turn ex-factory in to software company HQ

Batavia is poised to provide $1.86 million in aid to renovate a 100-year-old factory into a headquarters for a software company.

On Monday, the city council approved a redevelopment agreement with Manhattan Real Estate Ventures LLC for funding work at the former Pamarco factory at 190 S. Water St.

The QT9 software company of Aurora would move in, according to city officials.

“This will be kind of a dynamic change for a nicer-appearing building to be popping up out of the ground down there in the next few months,” Mayor Jeff Schielke said.

The site was once part of the U.S. Wind Engine and Pump Co. complex, Schielke told the council.

The incentive would be paid from revenue from a tax increment financing district.

Currently, the property is in TIF District 3, which was established in 2004 and ends in 2039.

It could end up in a new TIF district, District 7, which the city has proposed creating. District 7 would be carved out of District 3.

TIF District 7 would be bounded by Wilson Street on the north, Lincoln Street on the west, Union Street on the south and River Street on the east.

Besides the former Pamarco factory, it would include much of the southern portion of the downtown.

In a TIF district, property tax payments to government bodies are frozen when the district is created. Any increases in property taxes collected after that are placed into a special fund and can be used to pay for work intended to increase the value of the properties in the district.

In the case of the Pamarco building, that would include demolition of part of it and electrical, plumbing, structural and other work.

The project is estimated to cost $12 million.