Here is an example of tax incentives tailored to an individual company in West Des Moines. I wonder how that worked out for the metro? (Article is from 2003)
https://siteselection.com/ssinsider/incentive/ti0311.htm
WEST DES MOINES, Iowa – Spurred on by US$56.5 million in state and local incentives, Wells Fargo (
www.wellsfargo.com) is riding into West Des Moines, Iowa, with as many as 5,300 jobs in a $118-million, 900,000-sq.-ft. (81,000-sq.-m.) expansion.
The project is the largest job-generator in Iowa's economic development history, according to state officials. Of the 5,300 jobs that Wells Fargo Home Mortgage and Consumer Credit Group could position in its new two-building complex, 2,000 will be new positions, company officials said. The San Francisco-based unit of Wells Fargo & Co. will transfer as many as 3,300 other existing jobs to the new office facilities.
Most of those transfers, Wells Fargo Mortgage President and CEO Pete Wissinger explained, will come from the 10 facilities the company currently leases in Greater Des Moines. As that large leased swath suggests, Iowa's capital city holds a huge Wells Fargo presence. The nation's fifth-largest banking company has 8,000 of its 9,400 Iowa-based employees in the Des Moines area.
"Forty-nine other governors - make that 50 with Arnold Schwarzenegger's election - would like to be standing here," Gov. Tom Vilsack (pictured) said at the project announcement.
Even so, central Iowa didn't automatically have the project snugly buttoned in its back pocket. Wells Fargo Mortgage earlier this year made it known that it was considering other states as well, including Arizona, California, Illinois, Minnesota and South Carolina. And incentives were one part of what it was considering, the company said.
The state's large $54.9-million incentive package will yield large economic benefits, Gov. Tom Vilsack (D) repeatedly emphasized in unveiling the project.
"It's important and necessary for folks to understand that these new jobs are critical for us," Vilsack said at the expansion announcement at Wells Fargo Mortgage's 176-acre (70-hectare) site. "Forty-nine other governors - make that 50 with Arnold Schwarzenegger's election - would like to be standing here."
Governor: 10-Year Project Payoff Is $672 Million
The governor cited a state analysis that projected a $627-million, 10-year local-area economic impact. That impact will flow from payroll for Wells Fargo Mortgage's new jobs, capital investment for new facility construction and property taxes, he noted.
The end result for Iowa, explained Vilsack, is a payoff 27 times greater than Iowa's investment. "If we could all make that kind of return, we'd all retire," Wissinger said.
And the state's projected economic impact, Vilsack pointed out, doesn't include the spin-off jobs "that take place, when good jobs are created and people feel confident and comfortable investing their resources in a community, in a home and in an area." Wells Fargo Mortgage's new jobs, he explained, will be solid and sought after, with $33,500 average annual salaries.
The 5,300-employee Wells Fargo Home Mortgage complex will sit just south of the $200-million Jordan Creek Town Center (pictured in rendering) that's now being built. Mall owner Knapp Properties also sold Wells Fargo Home Mortgage the site for its expansion.
Wissinger characterized the project as "definitely good for Wells Fargo, but also good for Iowa. Our decision will ultimately benefit the business community and residents of Greater Des Moines and prove to be a sound investment in infrastructure by the state of Iowa and the city of West Des Moines."
And the Wells Fargo executive did touch on the expansion's multiplier potential.
"The area will benefit not only from the direct economic impact of our project," Wissinger said, "but by the fact that the resulting infrastructure will serve as a catalyst for the development of the surrounding properties and provide greatly improved access to the Jordan Creek Town Center [a $200-million mall that's being built just north of Wells Fargo Mortgage's site]."
The incentives intended to trigger those impacts include:
• $28 million from the state and city to Wells Fargo Mortgage in periodic cash grants that are dependent on meeting job-creation goals (with some $8 million of that amount used for worker training);
• $25.9 million from Iowa and West Des Moines for road, water and sewer improvements, with $16 million of that amount coming from the West Des Moines City Council and $9.9 million coming from the Iowa Department of Transportation.
Other States Offered Bigger Subsidies
But the location choice didn't solely revolve around incentives, Wissinger emphasized. Competing states offered more hefty subsidies, he explained. (The Wells Fargo Mortgage president and CEO didn't quantify other states' bids.)
"There are a lot of intangibles" in all location decisions, Wissinger said.
Some of West Des Moines' tangibles that the company particularly liked were business costs and labor, he explained. "Iowa offers us a high quality work force and is a great place for our team members to live," Wissinger noted.
Wells Fargo Mortgage also liked the West Des Moines site which it bought from Jordan Creek Center owner Knapp Properties. But that tract was undeveloped and had limited road access. Those conditions account for almost half of the project's incentives going to ready the site, company officials explained.
The West Des Moines expansion is being driven by the home mortgage market's rapid expansion, Wells Fargo officials said.
Wells Fargo Mortgage officials didn't outline a timetable for building the two-building complex. But the company's agreement with West Des Moines requires that construction begin no later than July 2004.
Another 1,000-Job Expansion
Also in the Works for Wells Fargo
Yet another major Wells Fargo expansion could be in the offing for Des Moines. This time, Des Moines-based Wells Fargo Financial is the corporate arm in question. Wells Fargo's consumer financial division has been in discussions with the Greater Des Moines Partnership (
www.desmoinesmetro.com) to add 1,000 jobs in downtown Des Moines.
Wells Fargo Financial may have dropped one big shoe in the decision earlier this month, when it bought the vacant property across the street from the $90-millon headquarters it moved into last year. The new facility for the expansion would also house 1,000 transferred local jobs.
Wells Fargo's rush of expansion activity reflects financial services' vitality in Iowa. The sector is the state's third-fastest growing industry, creating 24,500 new jobs between 1990 and 2002, according to analysts with Iowa Workforce Development.