County Commission approves payment in lieu of taxes for TSC
By Donna O’Neil, Managing Editor
doneil@williamsonherald.com
Prefacing Monday night’s Williamson County Commission vote on allowing payment in lieu of taxes (P.I.L.O.T) for Brentwood-based Tractor Supply Company, County Mayor Rogers Anderson sang the company’s praises.
County Commissioners voted 22-0 to approve the measure that would allow
Tractor Supply $2 million in tax abatements over the next 10 years. Simultaneously Brentwood City Commissioners voted to allow abatements worth up to $37,500 annually for the next 10 years. Commissioners Anne Dunn and Regina Smithson voted no. All others voted to affirm the abatements.
At the County Commission meeting, Anderson said TSC was among the county’s “wonderful and solid businesses.” He said, “The corporation has expanded working through people” and called it a “business model example for all with a command of their business” lead by a “humble man.”
Anderson cited the company’s involvement in the Williamson County Fair and offered ways the company’s No. 1 man, Jim Wright, gives back to the community, through his company and his personal giving.
“Thank you Jim for what you mean to the community and as an individual on earth.”
County Economic Development Director Matt Largen continued the acknowledgements, stating, “Tractor Supply has a long history in Williamson County and as a company has experienced a 30 percent growth in the past three years.”
Early in August, Tractor Supply Company, the largest retail farm and ranch supply store chain in the United States, announced an agreement to purchase an undeveloped parcel of land in the Maryland Farms area of Brentwood. The company will build a new corporate headquarters, referred to as its Store Support Center, and expects to move to the new location in mid-2014. This will become Brentwood’s first LEED certified building.
Tractor Supply Company has been headquartered in leased facilities in the same Maryland Farms area since 2004. Due to unprecedented growth, however, the company leases space in three separate buildings.
“Our rapid growth has created a need for more space for our Store Support Center team members. The new facility will consolidate our current team members into one location and also accommodate future expected growth,” said Jim Wright, Tractor Supply Company Chairman and CEO, in an earlier interview. “This transition would not have been possible without the assistance of our government partners at the city, county and state levels. We have been a proud member of the Brentwood and Williamson County business communities for more than eight years, and we are pleased that we will continue to call this area our home.”
The company currently employs approximately 650 of its total 17,000-team members in its three leased buildings and expects over time to grow to more than 1,000 team members in the new facility.
The proposed Store Support Center will be a 260,000-square-foot, LEED-certified building located in a new development on Virginia Way, just one block from the location of the company’s current offices. The new site is part of an approved development that will include a new City of Brentwood passive park to be named Margaret Hayes Powell Park.
Posted on: 9/13/2012
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