« Ind. Law - "So, when did the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission become a welfare-assistance agency?" | Main | Ind. Gov't. - A different take on Thursday's GUIA meeting »

Saturday, October 08, 2005

Ind. Econ. Dev. - More on "Mittal to put US headquarters in Chicago Loop"

This ILB entry from Wed., Oct. 5, quoted from a Chesterton Tribune story from the previous day about the Mittal decision to locate its U.S. headquarters in Chicago. Apparently this was a Chesterton Tribune scoop.

Today's (Oct. 8th) Gary Post-Tribune reports:

Mittal Steel USA was the big winner in its search for a company headquarters site, snagging $9.5 million in tax incentives to locate in downtown Chicago.

Illinois officials said during a news conference on Friday that they felt they had to give an attractive offer to beat Indiana, which they said was their biggest competition. But the state of Indiana said it didn’t offer anything to lure the U.S. headquarters of the world’s biggest steelmaker to Northwest Indiana.

The state of Illinois offered Economic Development for a Growing Economy corporate income tax credits over 10 years based on job creation, a grant for construction, renovations, machinery and other infrastructure improvements totaling $7.5 million.

“We’re in competition to get them to come here, and we have to put things on the table to get them to come here,’’ said Jack Lavin, director of the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity. “When we’re in competition, we need to put these investments on the table. We got them to come here.”

In addition, Chicago is providing $2 million from the Central Loop Tax Increment Financing District to help pay for furniture, fixtures and equipment for the new offices. * * *

Tim Sanders, director of the Northwest Indiana office of Indiana Economic Development Corp. earlier told the Post-Tribune that Indiana officials had presented Mittal Steel with an attractive incentive package.

But Sanders later said he was incorrect and that Indiana never offered Mittal a proposal because the company didn’t seem truly interested in putting its headquarters in Indiana.

“We told them that if you’re really thinking about coming to Indiana, we can put together a package that would be difficult to beat,’’ Sanders said. “Right off the bat, they said Chicago was most likely the favorite site. I think the people in Indianapolis handled this as well as they could. I don’t think Mittal was ever serious (about Indiana).” * * *

Sanders said Indiana never made a specific proposal because Mittal needed to notify the state in writing about what it was seeking. “We don’t put together a package without a company outlining their intentions," Sanders said. “We told them if you tell us we have a realistic chance, we’ll put together a good package that will be very difficult to turn down.”

[Louis Schorsch, CEO of Mittal Steel USA] said the presentation from Illinois and Chicago officials was more orchestrated than what the company got from Indiana officials. “They do have good experience for these things in a way that Northwest Indiana doesn’t,” Schorsch said. “We were in deep discussions with the governor of Indiana who was eager to have the facility.”

[More on NW Indiana economic development] The Munster (NW Indiana) Times reports today on that regional economic development "took center stage at a legislative kickoff Friday". Some quotes:
Tim Sanders, director of the Indiana Economic Development Corp.'s southwest region and interim RDA [regional development authority] director, listed four major concerns the RDA has set itself: South Shore commuter rail spurs, a regional bus system, expansion of the Gary/Chicago International Airport and development of the Lake Michigan shoreline.

In a local take, almost two-thirds of respondents to a Chesterton Chamber member survey identified the last item -- creation of a shoreline redevelopment plan -- as the top priority facing the RDA.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on October 8, 2005 07:27 AM
Posted to Indiana economic development