The Benton Township Board of Trustees has approved an Industrial Facilities Tax Exemption for a Cornerstone Alliance plan to construct a spec building to house manufacturers at 1264 North Crystal Avenue.
At a Tuesday meeting, Cornerstone’s Zachary Vaughn said the organization has sold the property to CopperRock Construction out of Grand Rapids to eventually build a 100,000 square foot facility. It would be ready-made for businesses to move into.
Vaugh says there are plenty of companies that inquire about locating in southwest Michigan.
“As of last year, in 2023, we received over 80 leads, and out of those 80 leads, we responded to just under half of those leads due to the lack of inventory that we have from a facilities standpoint for companies with these projects to actually come through,” Vaughn said.
Vaughn said having a new location that’s ready to go and that also comes with a tax break would be very attractive to businesses.
“They’re able to come into a turnkey location without doing any building or rehab work on an existing facility, start their operation, continue their operation, and move their product.”
Trustees were concerned Cornerstone was asking for a 12-year tax abatement on a facility that doesn’t have any identified users yet. They reached a compromise that included a 10-year 50% property tax abatement for the first phase of the project, which will be about 12,500 square feet.
The work will start by May, and later phases will see the spec building grow.
Trustees left open the question of further abatements as more phases take place.
