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Companies Given Tax Breaks To Bring Jobs To Western Mass.

WAMC

Massachusetts state tax credits have been approved for three companies that are planning expansion projects in the Pioneer Valley that will create new jobs.

The Massachusetts Economic Assistance Coordinating Council approved a new round of state investment tax credits for nine projects statewide including ones in Springfield, Holyoke, and Westfield that promise to create a total of 139 new jobs.

State tax credits were approved for Falvey Linen Supply, International Container Company and Boise Cascade Company.  The companies will also receive breaks on local property taxes for a period of five years.

Falvey, a fourth generation family owned business based in Rhode Island, plans to spend $8.6 million to purchase and renovate a former U.S. Postal Service warehouse in east Springfield and open a commercial laundry. The company said it will create 125 jobs.

 Mayor Domenic Sarno said his administration worked very hard to convince Falvey to expand in Springfield.

" They see Springfield as up-and-coming," said Sarno.

The company was awarded $625,000 in state investment tax credits. The Springfield City Council, at Sarno’s urging, approved a property tax break that will save Falvey $139,500 over five years.

"We continue to be competitive," said Sarno. " This is part of the $2.7 billion in economic development going on here in the city of Springfield."

Falvey has a plant in Cranston, Rhode Island and distribution warehouses in the Boston area and in Hartford.  The decision to build a second plant in Springfield is a major expansion for the 86-year-old company, according to Falvey President James O’Hara.

" It opens up the New York market for us as well," said O'Hara. " There are many opportunities for us out in this area."

O’Hara said his company was attracted to Springfield in part because of the belief the hospitality industry will grow as a result of the MGM Springfield casino which is scheduled to open in 2018.

" It definitely was a factor," said O'Hara.

The International Container Company was awarded $62,500 in state investment tax credits to go with a five-year $30,000 property tax break for a project to increase manufacturing space at its Holyoke building. The company said the expansion will create five new jobs.

In Westfield, Boise Cascade plans to build an 85,000 square foot warehouse and a 12,000 square foot sales office. The company said the $8 million project will create nine new jobs.  The state council authorized $67,500 in investment tax credits and a five-year local tax break worth $226,000.

Massachusetts provides a number of tax breaks to encourage economic growth through the Economic Development Incentive Program.  The annual report for the program said $59.8 million in investment tax credits will be used in fiscal year 2016.

The record-setting tenure of Springfield Mayor Domenic Sarno. The 2011 tornado and its recovery that remade the largest city in Western Massachusetts. The fallout from the deadly COVID outbreak at the Holyoke Soldiers Home. Those are just a few of the thousands and thousands of stories WAMC’s Pioneer Valley Bureau Chief Paul Tuthill has covered for WAMC in his nearly 17 years with the station.
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