NEWS

Bridgestone secures $56M in incentives with council vote

Joey Garrison
jgarrison@tennessean.com

Bridgestone Americas secured more than $56 million in Metro tax incentives Tuesday, giving the tire company what it has coveted for a planned headquarters relocation to downtown Nashville.

The Metro Council voted 31-1, with one abstention, on a final of three readings to deliver Bridgestone a 100 percent property tax discount over 20 years on a new 30-story tower it plans to move into at Fourth Avenue and Demonbreun Street in the booming SoBro neighborhood.

In a separate vote, the council voted 31-0, with one abstention, to approve a $500 grant per new Bridgestone employee over seven years.

Neither vote garnered any debate Tuesday.

Bridgestone Americas officials are planning a January groundbreaking for a more than $200 million privately constructed building that will consolidate the company’s existing headquarters in Donelson with office divisions that are currently in Illinois and Indiana.

Mayor Karl Dean, who has piloted the Bridgestone deal and others like it during his time in office, thanked the council in a prepared statement that also touted job creation.

“This agreement means Bridgestone Americas, one of our finest corporate citizens, will not only keep 1,100 employees in Nashville but also bring 600 more here from other states,” Dean said. “We could have lost all of those high-paying jobs and the revenue they bring to the city.”

The combined Metro incentives are projected to be worth around $56.3 million, though it is unclear what the property tax abatement will total over time. The deal still requires a procedural vote Friday by the Metro Industrial Development Board.

The state has agreed to pitch in a similar sum, bringing the total amount of incentives for Bridgestone to more than $100 million.

“The process to date serves as a fantastic example of the long and mutually beneficial relationship developed between Bridgestone, the city of Nashville, the state of Tennessee and all our neighbors in the Middle Tennessee region,” Bridgestone said in a statement Tuesday.

Dean has turned to payment-in-lieu-of-tax, or PILOT, deals repeatedly during his second term to spur economic development. But the Bridgestone deal is rivaled only in scale by a $66 million property tax discount Dean orchestrated earlier this year for hospital giant HCA for its upcoming downtown relocation of two subsidiaries.

Before Tuesday’s vote, Dean’s administration and Bridgestone officials had warned that leaving Tennessee would be on the table for Bridgestone if not for the tax incentives. The company had listened to offers from other municipalities and state government.

Councilman Josh Stites, who has made a habit of voting down tax breaks that are meant to spur job growth, was the lone no vote Tuesday. Fellow conservative Councilman Robert Duvall abstained on both Bridgestone votes.

Two weeks ago, mayoral candidate Jeremy Kane as well as Metro school board members Amy Frogge, Will Pinkston and Jill Speering asked the council to amend the Bridgestone legislation to protect revenue that could be used for public schools.

Those requests, though, were not referenced by council members during Tuesday’s vote.

In other business Tuesday, the council approved Dean’s reappointment of a citizen-led committee that has been reviewing Metro’s employee and retiree pension and health benefit systems.

The council voted 27-3 to reappoint the city’s five-member Study and Formulating Committee, which has been unable to finish a final report on the sustainability of the city’s benefits by its original one-year time frame.

The committee is chaired by Nashville businessman Michael Shmerling. Its work had come under fire from Service International Employees Union Local 205, which represents Metro workers. The council last month voted 17-16 to defeat a resolution to prolong the committee’s activity, but the vote Tuesday will mean its work will carry on.

Reach Joey Garrison at 615-259-8236 and on Twitter @joeygarrison.