IDA help didn’t forestall Yonkers plant closing
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- May
- 20
Stewart EFI will close its longstanding manufacturing operation in Yonkers by year’s end, but not from lack of interest by the city’s Industrial Development Agency.
The business, known in Yonkers for decades as Stewart Stamping, produces precision metal parts for a variety of industries. It was a division of Insilco when it was stuck in bankruptcy five years ago.
At the time, the IDA provided a host of economic incentives to a management group that wanted to buy the Stewart assets, IDA spokeswoman Colleen Roche said. They included a $54,000 mortgage recording tax exemption and a sales tax exemption.
The plant on Central Park Avenue was taken off the tax rolls as part of the deal, but Stewart has made payments that were equal to the taxes owed since the deal was completed in 2003, Roche said. The company also never used the sales tax exemption to which it was entitled, she added.
A clause in the deal would allow for a recapture of any real property tax breaks if employment at the plant fell below 150. The recapture was moot because the company didn’t get property tax savings, and employment remained above 150 annually, Roche said. The recapture didn’t apply to the mortgage tax.
The IDA Web site valued the project with Stewart at $10 million. Roche said the figure represents the amount of investment put into the project; in this case, it included the acquisition of the site and improvements made to building, including new equipment.
Stewart EFI is based in Thomaston, Conn. Company officials have not commented in detail on why the Yonkers plant is closing. A member of Teamsters Local 210 said it had been told that the operation was too expensive.
This entry was posted
on Tuesday, May 20th, 2008 at 3:19 pm by Jerry Gleeson.
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