Construction begins at Kawasaki
TONY BROWN/DAILY FORUM
Maryville City Manager Greg McDanel, left, and Kawasaki Motors Plant Manager and Vice President Steve Bratt survey the vast concrete floor of what will soon be a 100,800-square-foot addition to the small-engine manufacturing facility located just inside Maryville’s south city limits. Bratt said he expects the expansion to be completed late this year with production in the new space beginning sometime in early 2016.
Construction is well under way at the Kawasaki Motors Manufacturing Corp. U.S.A. plant, where crews are continuing to pour a massive 12-inch-thick ceramic concrete floor for what will soon become a 100,800-square-foot addition to the existing factory located just inside Maryville’s south city limits.
Plant Manager and Vice President Steve Bratt said Wednesday that when the addition is completed late this year it will bring the plant’s total floor space to around 900,000 square feet.
Bratt said the E.L. Crawford construction company of St. Joseph has been hired to act as general contractor for the new production facility, which will likely go online early in 2016.
Most of the expansion will be dedicated to the machining of aluminum parts used in the production of gasoline motors used in a variety of applications such as powering zero-radius lawn mowers and garden tractors.
Bratt said the plant, which employs more than 850 people, currently has about 40 machining lines and nearly 20 other production units dedicated to either die-casting or assembly.
The expansion is expected to create about 30 new jobs, and Bratt said Wednesday that depending on demand for product the added capacity could mean the addition of up to 10 new machining lines over the next several years.
In late March the Maryville City Council voted unanimously to accept an Industrial Development Revenue Bond tax abatement package designed to finance the $25.5 million expansion.
Under terms of the agreement, both Kawasaki’s existing facility and the expansion, including new fixtures and machinery, are being transferred to city ownership, with the corporation paying rent equivalent to principal and interest over the 10-year life of the bonds.
Should Kawasaki fail to service the bonds, the city is under no obligation to repay the debt.
The agreement exempts Kawasaki from all real property and personal property (machinery, fixtures and equipment) taxes for 10 years, with the exception of personal property taxes assessed on equipment in the existing plant.
However, in order to preserve a portion of the revenue streams of various taxing entities, and especially the Maryville R-II School District, Kawasaki has agreed to make “pilot payments” — payments in lieu of taxes — equivalent to the 2014 assessed valuation of its real property and 50 percent of the property taxes anticipated over 10 years on $18.5 million in equipment purchases for the expansion.
In addition to the pilot payments, Kawasaki has entered into a performance agreement with the city pledging that its workforce will not fall below 775 employees during the 10-year bond term.
Should the employment level fall below what is specified, Kawasaki would be required to make additional pilot payments. If for any reason the corporation abandons the expansion, all property taxes would be reinstated at the full amount.
TONY BROWN/DAILY FORUM
A worker spray-cleans equipment used this week to install part of a 12-inch-thick concrete floor constructed as part of a 100,800-square-foot expansion at the Kawasaki Motors Manufacturing Corp. U.S.A. plant in Maryville. Plant Manager and Vice President Steve Bratt said the thick layer of concrete is necessary in order to reduce vibration levels in a part of the plant where aluminum engine parts will be machined to extremely fine tolerances.
