German company eyes former AT&T site for tech center
Trumpf Inc., a German manufacturing company with its U.S. headquarters in Connecticut, plans to build a state-of-the-art technology center on 5 acres of the 70-acre former AT&T campus in Hoffman Estates.
Hoffman Estates trustees Monday gave a courtesy review to the preliminary plans of the high-tech sheet metal fabricator and recommended the project for a Cook County Class 6B tax incentive.
Trumpf's purchase of the site at the northeast corner of Central Road and AT&T Center Drive is contingent on the tax incentive, said Senior Vice President Burke Doar.
A Class 6B incentive reduces the level of assessment on a property from 25 to 10 percent - effectively cutting property taxes in half - for 10 years. The level of assessment then gradually rises over the next two years before returning to normal.
While often associated with the reuse of vacant buildings, a Class 6B can be used for new construction as well, said Hoffman Estates Economic Development Director Kevin Kramer.
In fact, the other companies that have already bought land on the former AT&T campus have received the incentive as well, he added.
Trumpf Inc. wants to build a 50,000-square-foot building to house office, warehouse and showroom space. The building would cost about $13 million.
Though the building would have about 20 employees, it would attract approximately 1,000 visitors and potential customers per year, Doar said.
This particular location was chosen due to the proximity of many existing clients as well as its easy access to O'Hare International Airport, he added.
Trumpf doesn't mass-produce identical sheet metal products, but rather maintains the flexibility to make smaller runs of more specially designed ones, Doar said.
Worldwide, Trumpf has 50 locations, more than 10,000 employees and annual revenues of approximately $3.5 billion, he said.
The company hopes to close on the purchase of the land in the near future and be able to open the new facility in the spring of 2017, Doar said.