RCEDA to sell bonds for new GlaxoSmithKline R&D unit

Ravalli Republic September 7, 2010 by Jeff Schmerker

The Ravalli County Economic Development Authority has received permission to embark on an ambitious expansion plan for its entrepreneurship center.

The organization will likely use $4.5 million in revenue bonds to build a 16,400-square-foot building adjacent to the current entrepreneurship center in Hamilton. The building will be home to a research and development unit for GlaxoSmithKline.

The county already has $2.6 million available in state money; on Tuesday, commissioners gave permission for EDA to ask the state for an additional $1.9 million in bond capacity.

The bonds will be sold to private investors like banks, said Julie Foster, director of the economic development authority. The 6 percent bonds will be tax-free, thanks to support from the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act. One investment house has already said it would buy the bonds.

EDA will pay the loan over 20 years using a lease from GSK, which will move 25 jobs from its Hamilton headquarters to the new building; taxes, utilities and upkeep on the building will be paid by the tenant. No groundbreaking date has yet been set. Tax-free status for the bonds comes from the federal government through the county’s designation as an economic recovery zone, said Klarryse Murphy, the county’s chief financial officer.

“This is a designation that is meant to help us recover economically,” she said.
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