At the June REDI Board meeting, REDI Executive Vice President Bernie Andrews presented a completion summary of the ABC Laboratories, Inc. Chapter 100 project. ABC Labs was the first company to make use of Boone County's Chapter 100 Revenue Bond program as an incentive to build a new facility in Boone County rather than move its operations away from our community.
In 2006, ABC Labs was in need of a new pharma lab to continue and increase its contract research, testing and scientific services. ABC Labs had competitive offers from other cities and states for locations to build, so Columbia needed an incentive offer to compete. ABC Labs became the first Chapter 100 project in Boone County when it announced it would become the anchor tenant for Discovery Ridge Research Park.
ABC labs received a 50 percent abatement on its $15 million building, which expired in December 2018. The job requirement for the project was to retain 224 jobs and create 50 new jobs, for a total of 274 jobs. In May 2018, the company had 370 employees.
During the time of the abatement (2009 - 2018), the payments in lieu of taxes (PILOT) collected on the abated building in Discovery Ridge totaled $1,555,306.60.
During the same period, taxes collected that were not abated, including real property taxes collected from ABC labs on its ABC Lane property and personal property taxes collected from both locations, totaled $2,119,364.27.
Together, a total of $3,674,670.87 was paid to Columbia Public Schools, City of Columbia, Columbia BC Library, Boone County, Boone County Family Resources, and the State of Missouri during the time of the incentive program. These funds and all future taxes collected would have been received by another community without the Boone County Chapter 100 Revenue Bond program as an incentive.
While meeting all required investment and job creation metrics, ABC Labs (now owned by Eurofins BioPharma Product Testing) also helped leverage federal, state and local infrastructure dollars as it helped bring Discovery Ridge Research Park into existence. The ABC Laboratories Chapter 100 public process served as the model for future Chapter 100 projects, including Kraft Heinz, Dana Light Axle, Aurora Organic Dairy, American Outdoor Brands, and Northwest Medical Isotopes, LLC.
Thank you to the Boone County Commissioners, County Counselor, Assessor, Collector, and all of the impacted taxing entities for their support and assistance on the successful completion of this first Boone County Chapter 100 project.
