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Deadline extended on proposed office park development

While one project steams ahead, another is delayed.

The new GE Aviation office buildings at 9267 Cincinnati-Dayton Road — the site of the former Queen City Sports Complex — in West Chester Twp. are seen Dec. 8, 2009, and are nearing completion.

Gary Stelzer/Staff photographer The new GE Aviation office buildings at 9267 Cincinnati-Dayton Road — the site of the former Queen City Sports Complex — in West Chester Twp. are seen Dec. 8, 2009, and are nearing completion.

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By Dave Greber, Staff Writer 9:22 AM Wednesday, December 9, 2009

WEST CHESTER TWP. — While the township has begun to collect on an economic agreement that brought a portion of a $13 billion operation to the community this year, another agreement has fallen victim to the economy.

Nearly half of the anticipated 1,600 GE Aviation employees have moved into one of two towers erected near the corner of Cincinnati-Dayton and Union Centre Boulevard.

West Chester Twp. partnered with Fairfield and Springdale to create the special taxing district that allows them to collect as much as $1 million annually in income taxes from GE workers. The agreement allows the township — which cannot otherwise collect income taxes — to levy a 1 percent income tax on individual earnings, as well as business net profits within the boundaries.

GE Spokesman Rick Kennedy said the company has moved about 800 employees from its Glendale operations to West Chester Twp. Another 800 are expected to begin occupying the new space — the second building — Jan. 8. Kennedy said there are no plans to add employees to its West Chester Twp. operations anytime soon.

Meanwhile, the deadlines for another economic development agreement have been extended because of economic conditions.

Last month, trustees approved an extension to a 2-year-old agreement with Scott Street Partners and Duke Realty, the same owner of the 43-acre lot on which the GE towers were built.

In 2007, the township entered into a tax increment financing agreement with Scott Street Partners and Duke Realty that required the township to reimburse the companies as much as $3 million for the extension of Civic Centre Boulevard to Allen Road, among other infrastructure improvements. The township would have been obligated to pay for the improvements had the two companies followed through on meeting their deadlines to build a “Class A” office on a lot south of The Streets of West Chester by this year. Those deadlines and others were extended from two years to five years.

Township officials said they are at full capacity for such office space.

TIFs allow townships to funnel tax dollars to infrastructure improvements within specifically outlined boundaries.

“Economic conditions since the (a)greement was signed have impeded development, and Duke Realty, still encouraged by the property’s potential and excited about inevitable development, cannot meet the initial timeframes,” according to a township memo.

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