By Megan Parsons, Garrett Burton, Kennedy Sabharwal, Grant Wheeler and Dalton Stokes
University of Kentucky School of Journalism and Media
Midway seems to have hit the employment and tax-revenue lottery. Lakeshore Learning Materials, which came to town in 2016, has announced it will expand its distribution center and employ 100 more people. Lakeshore currently employs 240 in the Midway Station industrial park. It is also expected to provide around 150 seasonal jobs.
“This means longer term financial stability for the city,” Mayor Grayson Vandegrift said in an email. “With this expansion, our city will likely see over $1 million in annual occupational tax revenue overall; it was around $300,000 per year in 2015.”
University of Kentucky School of Journalism and Media
Midway seems to have hit the employment and tax-revenue lottery. Lakeshore Learning Materials, which came to town in 2016, has announced it will expand its distribution center and employ 100 more people. Lakeshore currently employs 240 in the Midway Station industrial park. It is also expected to provide around 150 seasonal jobs.
“This means longer term financial stability for the city,” Mayor Grayson Vandegrift said in an email. “With this expansion, our city will likely see over $1 million in annual occupational tax revenue overall; it was around $300,000 per year in 2015.”
As a result, Vandegrift said, the citizens of Midway can expect more infrastructure improvements and better overall services. “Our residents can expect us to be able to continue improving our water and sewer lines, our roads, our sidewalks, and to be able to continue investing in other quality of life initiatives as well,” he said.
Lakeshore is the largest job provider in Midway history. Vandergrift said that construction will most likely start in the winter and finish up in spring of 2020, costing the company an estimated $27 million. The first center cost it $47.7 million.
The addition will be close to the current distribution center, next to Georgetown Road on property being bought from Homer Freeny Jr., which the city recently annexed and zoned industrial. An adjoining tract could be used for future expansion, Vandegrift said.
The mayor said the company, based in the Los Angeles area, chose to expand eastern distribution center in in Midway rather than open a third center in Beaumont, Texas, a city of about 120,000 east of Houston.
“I believe their existing distribution center and our excellent logistics played a key role,” Vandegrift said. “I was also told by a Lakeshore executive that our relationship with them as a city was a big reason they decided on Midway.” He noted that Midway is within a day’s drive of 70 percent of the U.S. population.
The mayor said he “worried Beaumont could provide a better tax incentive package.” In addition to incentives from the state, he also tentatively offered a five-year abatement of the occupational tax on Lakeshore’s net profits.
“This seems like a very reasonable thing to do since Lakeshore currently contributes five times what was being generated in the entire city before they arrived,” he wrote. “They contribute about $30,000 a year in net-profit tax. But, the company contributes over $200,000 dollars per year in occupational tax revenue already, and in the long run the city comes out far in the black.” Before this offer can be solidified, it must be approved by the City Council.
The rest of the incentive package is the same as the one for Lakeshore's initial plant, to rebate 0.5 percent of their occupational-tax payments for 10 years once their promised job threshold is met.
Asked if Lakeshore will seek local employees to fill the 100 jobs, Vandegrift said, “A lot of their employees come from Midway and Woodford County, but the majority travel from other counties, and I expect that to be even more the case with this new facility.”
As for construction work, since the distribution center was built by Central Kentucky companies, Vandegrift said they are likely to build the new distribution center.
Traffic should not be of concern to Midway residents, according to the mayor. With the current distribution center, traffic has been minimal. During the end of the day shift, there can be more traffic on the Interstate 64 interchange, but much less than in Lexington.
Lakeshore is a developer and retailer of educational materials for early-childhood programs, elementary schools and homes nationwide. The company has 60 retail locations across the country. It recently opened offices in Asia.
Lakeshore is the largest job provider in Midway history. Vandergrift said that construction will most likely start in the winter and finish up in spring of 2020, costing the company an estimated $27 million. The first center cost it $47.7 million.
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| Labels on Google map show new Lakeshore Learning property, which the city recently annexed; the red line is the former city limit. Road at top goes to new Brown-Forman whiskey warehouses. |
The mayor said the company, based in the Los Angeles area, chose to expand eastern distribution center in in Midway rather than open a third center in Beaumont, Texas, a city of about 120,000 east of Houston.
“I believe their existing distribution center and our excellent logistics played a key role,” Vandegrift said. “I was also told by a Lakeshore executive that our relationship with them as a city was a big reason they decided on Midway.” He noted that Midway is within a day’s drive of 70 percent of the U.S. population.
The mayor said he “worried Beaumont could provide a better tax incentive package.” In addition to incentives from the state, he also tentatively offered a five-year abatement of the occupational tax on Lakeshore’s net profits.
“This seems like a very reasonable thing to do since Lakeshore currently contributes five times what was being generated in the entire city before they arrived,” he wrote. “They contribute about $30,000 a year in net-profit tax. But, the company contributes over $200,000 dollars per year in occupational tax revenue already, and in the long run the city comes out far in the black.” Before this offer can be solidified, it must be approved by the City Council.
The rest of the incentive package is the same as the one for Lakeshore's initial plant, to rebate 0.5 percent of their occupational-tax payments for 10 years once their promised job threshold is met.
Asked if Lakeshore will seek local employees to fill the 100 jobs, Vandegrift said, “A lot of their employees come from Midway and Woodford County, but the majority travel from other counties, and I expect that to be even more the case with this new facility.”
As for construction work, since the distribution center was built by Central Kentucky companies, Vandegrift said they are likely to build the new distribution center.
Traffic should not be of concern to Midway residents, according to the mayor. With the current distribution center, traffic has been minimal. During the end of the day shift, there can be more traffic on the Interstate 64 interchange, but much less than in Lexington.
Lakeshore is a developer and retailer of educational materials for early-childhood programs, elementary schools and homes nationwide. The company has 60 retail locations across the country. It recently opened offices in Asia.
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