Walgreens expansion expected to create 350 jobs in Perrysburg Township

5/21/2018
BLADE STAFF
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    Walgreens Distribution Center Friday, May 18, 2018, in Perrysburg, Ohio.

    THE BLADE/JEREMY WADSWORTH
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    • Walgreens will begin work this year on a major expansion of its distribution center in Perrysburg Township, a development that is projected to create 350 jobs.

    Phil Caruso, a Walgreens spokesman, said the company plans to begin work this summer on a 380,000 square-foot expansion of its 650,000-square-foot warehouse and distribution center at 28727 Oregon Rd. Construction on the expansion is projected to be complete in the spring.

    Wade Gottschalk, executive director of the Wood County Economic Development Commission, said the expansion will add 350 jobs to the about 680 employees now working at the site. The new jobs are projected to add $15.4 million in payroll at the center, according to the Ohio Tax Credit Authority, meaning the positions should be middle-class jobs.

    “These are good jobs,” Mr. Gottschalk said. “Walgreens has always paid well."

    Mr. Caruso said the distribution center serves a number of stores, sending them front-end retail items, such as home goods, and not pharmaceuticals. The current building will remain operational while the expansion is underway. 

    “It allows us to meet our current and future needs to our business,” he said.

    State and local officials provided tax incentives to Walgreens for the expansion project.

    The state Tax Credit Authority approved in April a 1.741 percent, nine-year tax credit for the project, noting the job increases and retention of $27.4 million in current payroll. Meanwhile, Walgreens received a 15-year, 100 percent gross tax abatement on the new real property value.

    That is projected to save the company about $690,000 a year in property taxes, though the company has agreed to pay the Rossford school district $354,000 annually, and the Penta Career Center will receive $23,000 a year, Mr. Gottschalk said.

    Walgreens received a full 10-year tax abatement from Wood County on the original center, which opened in 2003. The new abatement only applies to the expansion, and not to the current structure, Mr. Gottschalk said. The estimated total investment by Walgreens in the project is about $82 million, he said.

    When the expansion is complete, the Walgreens center will be about 1.2 million square-feet, Mr. Gottschalk said.