FORT WORTH, Texas — The City of Fort Worth is proposing tax breaks for Bell Textron Inc. as the company considers locating a new plant on the city's north side and negotiates with the governor's office for state incentives.
Bell is eyeing a $429 million plant in far north Fort Worth, inside a building previously occupied by Stanley Black and Decker Tooling at 15100 North Beach St.
The site is one of several that the aerospace and defense manufacturer is considering to produce components for its newest attack aircraft for the U.S. Army, the V-280 Valor.
The Fort Worth-based company, in February, applied for a 10-year tax abatement via the state's new school property tax incentives program.
In a statement, Bell said it regularly assesses sites that will meet its future business needs but stressed that a final decision has not been made.
"Following the [Future Long Range Assault Aircraft] contract award, the company continues to evaluate sites to support large-scale advanced manufacturing operations," the statement says. "Bell is analyzing several locations to establish this facility, one of which is located in Fort Worth, TX, but no final decision has been made."
Now, the city is considering an additional tax abatement for the company, according to a public notice posted Oct. 18. The tax break would be applied to 34.3 acres and would include at least $122,000 in improvements for the building. The building would be primarily used for manufacturing, warehousing and distribution. Fort Worth City Council could vote on the abatement on Nov. 19, according to the notification.
"A notice of consideration for a proposed tax abatement agreement has been posted on the City of Fort Worth website that would be dependent on Fort Worth's consideration as a finalist site for the proposed project," Andrea Duffie, communications coordinator for the Fort Worth economic development department wrote to the Business Journal. "However, the City of Fort Worth does not comment further on projects that are under active negotiation."
If Bell does select Fort Worth, the project could bring a $429 million investment between manufacturing equipment and real estate. Bell is proposing to expand the building by 5,400 square feet and create up to 411 jobs with an average annual salary of $85,000.
In April, Bell took another step closer to a 10-year tax abatement agreement with the state, after Northwest Independent School District trustees approved Bell's application. But that agreement is still in the process of negotiation, Anthony Tosie, executive director of communications at Northwest Independent School District wrote in an email to Dallas Business Journal on Oct. 7.
Bell was awarded a massive contract to provide the U.S. Army with its next-generation attack helicopter — the Future Long Range Assault Aircraft — which will eventually replace the Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk. The V-280 has a tilt-rotor design, meaning it can take off like a helicopter and fly like a turboprop aircraft, making it faster than a traditional helicopter. That contract could be worth $1.3 billion in the short term and possibly up to $70 billion across decades.
Bell has recently invested in several new locations across the Metroplex. The company broke ground last year on a $20 million Drive Systems Test Lab in Grand Prairie, which would test technology like gearboxes, and opened a Weapons Systems Integration Lab in Arlington, next to its existing Flight Research Center.
