The Toledo-Lucas County Port Authority Board of Directors approved a lease agreement Feb. 26 with The Andersons Inc. to acquire and construct an approximately 130,000-square-foot corporate headquarters facility in Northwest Ohio through a number of Port Authority financing mechanisms totaling up to $50 million.
“The Port Authority was able to secure the necessary financing in order to help move The Andersons’ headquarters relocation project forward,” said Paul Toth, president and CEO of the Toledo-Lucas County Port Authority, in a news release. “By relocating and expanding its headquarters due to the financing mechanisms in place, The Andersons will be able to not only retain existing jobs in the community, but will also be able to create new ones.”
The Port Authority will issue up to $10 million in taxable development revenue bonds through its Northwest Ohio Bond Fund program and up to $35 million in lease revenue bonds that will be sold to a commercial bank or into the capital markets.
JobsOhio is recommending a $5 million 166 Direct Loan, contingent upon the State Controlling Board’s approval, bringing the total to $50 million to be used by the Port Authority to construct the new facility.
The Maumee-based company hopes to begin construction this spring and to occupy the new headquarters building by the end of 2016, according to corporate communications manager Debra Crow.
The Port Authority will lease the facility to The Andersons under a 15-year capital lease in exchange for lease rental payments to pay the debt service on the Northwest Ohio Bond Fund bonds, the lease revenue bonds and the 166 Loan recommended by JobsOhio. Upon retirement of all debt, The Andersons will have an option to acquire the facility.
About 450 employees of The Andersons currently working in its leased Maumee corporate office will move to the new location. The firm’s other 700 employees will remain working in Maumee, Crow said.
The Andersons announced plans in November to move its headquarters to a 55-acre site in Monclova Township located north of Salisbury Road and west of I-475.
