Injected molding manufacturer moving to Carpentersville

The Carpentersville village board this week sealed a deal that will bring a new manufacturing company to the town for the first time in more than a decade.

Trustees on Tuesday recommended moving forward with an agreement for Dana Molded Products to reimburse the company up to $500,000 for redevelopment and relocation costs.

Dana Molded Products, which specializes in injected molding, will invest about $10 million to move its operations from Arlington Heights to a 62,000-square foot facility on a 5.7-acre site at the Springhill Center for Commerce and Industry on the west side of Carpentersville.

Village officials said the relocation of the company, which employs about 75 people, could create as many as 40 jobs in the Carpentersville area. It is unclear how many employees will stay with the company once it leaves Arlington Heights. A representative from the company did not return calls for comment.

Village President Ed Ritter said although no formal action was taken, the village board supported the plan. Ritter said the $500,000 would be paid in one lump sum once the company obtains an occupancy permit.

A firm timeline for the project has not been established, but village officials said the company should be operating by fall of 2011.

"This is a showcase project for the village to show that Carpentersville can be very supportive of new businesses," Ritter said. "It is a modest reimbursement amount, but we want people to see that we can move quickly on this."

The new building will be in a tax increment financing district. In a TIF, property taxes are essentially frozen as far as the government bodies that collect them for a period of 23 years, and the additional taxes generated from improvements in the area is pumped back into the district's redevelopment. The village will invest $500,000 in TIF funds to help offset the company's costs for village permits, Kane County Road Impact fees, land acquisition and relocation, said Janice Murphy, economic development and special projects coordinator for Carpentersville.

Currently, the TIF district generates about $280,000 per year. The addition of Dana Molded will boost revenues about $68,000 per year, Murphy said.

"This is huge for the village because this is a company that is looking to invest in the Chicago metropolitan region at a time when manufacturing jobs are moving offshore or to states that don't have high property taxes," Murphy said. "This is the first manufacturing company to invest in the village in 12 years."

Murphy said the village is expected recoup the most of the reimbursement costs over the remaining eight years that are left in the TIF's life. Murphy said the incremental tax revenue created from the project would be about $494,400, after which the projected property taxes would be $72,000 per year.