A corn seed company is moving forward with a $4 million headquarters expansion in Westfield.
AgReliant Genetics LLC, which has 140 employees in the state, plans to remodel an existing building, demolish another and add a new structure and parking areas at its headquarters at 1122 E. 169th Street. The facility will be about 50,000 square feet when finished.
The project will create additional office space, meeting rooms and a break room for employees. AgReliant said it it has 54 employees in Westfield making accumulative annual wages of $4.9 million. It expects to add 31 jobs at the site during the next 10 years, resulting in an additional $2.29 million in annual salaries.
AgReliant has research programs in 13 facilities and more than 900 employees throughout North America. The company had been considering moving the headquarters elsewhere in the state or country, but told Westfield officials it preferred to stay where it is.
As an incentive, the city offered the company a partial abatement that is expected to save the company about half, or $425,000, on its real property taxes over the next 10 years.
The Westfield City Council approved the tax break in February.
Westfield Advisory Plan Commission member Ken Kingshill complimented the headquarters design at a meeting Monday night. The project transforms the current industrial-style building into a more suitable office facility with large windows and stone tile.
“I appreciate the interesting architecture,” Kingshill said.
The expansion will be completed in phases to keep the office in operation throughout construction.
The plan commission could vote on the project design at its next meeting April 20.
Please enable JavaScript to view this content.