LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- A company planning a western Louisville pretzel factory could receive $2.25 million in state economic development incentives, according to details of a deal revealed at Metro Council.
Stellar Snacks unveiled the $137 million project in the Park Hill neighborhood last month, with construction set to start in March. At the time, Gov. Andy Beshear's office said the venture is contingent on the approval of state incentives.
State officials indicated after the mid-October announcement that Kentucky's Economic Development Fund likely would be the source of those subsidies. But the first specifics emerged during Tuesday's meeting of the Metro Council's labor and economic development committee.
Under a resolution approved by the committee, Metro government plans to ask for $2.25 million in grant funds for Stellar Snacks. The money includes $1 million for a planned railroad spur line at the site at 1391 Dixie Highway and $1.25 million in hiring tax credits, said Benjamin Moore, director of the city's Department of Economic Development.
The Kentucky Cabinet for Economic Development previously said the job incentives would be tied to hiring residents of nine western Louisville neighborhoods in a sprawling tax increment financing district approved by state lawmakers in 2021.
Moore said the city's role will be to disperse the grant funds to Stellar Snacks once the state qualifies the work.
"This is a little bit different for us," Moore said. "There's no local skin in the game on this incentive package. So this is all state grant money."
He said the grant approach was pursued because the project sits in the tax increment financing, or TIF, district in the city's west end, preventing that type of popular tax incentive to be on the table.
Council member Phillip Baker, whose 6th District includes the Stellar Snacks site, said he hopes the deal can "be a model for other projects similar to this and all of our districts."
The incentives would come from a pool of grant money the General Assembly allocates for economic development projects. They still must be approved by the Kentucky Economic Development Finance Authority, the state's incentives board.
Brandon Mattingly, spokesman for the state economic development cabinet, said in an email Tuesday it's not known when the board will consider the incentives.
Stellar Snacks plans to create 350 jobs over the next decade making pretzels, including engineering and maintenance positions, mechanics and other roles such as technicians and human resources assistants.
The jobs are expected to pay an average of $30.20 per hour, including benefits.Â
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