City council favors relocation for Hoosier Energy

The Bloomington City Council supported a tax abatement for the relocation of Hoosier Energy’s corporate headquarters to an area east of Indiana 37 and north of Tapp Road, last Wednesday.

Hoosier Energy, a generation and transmission cooperative, is looking at various locations both in and near Bloomington to relocate its headquarters. The headquarters are currently located north of the city along Ind. 37.

A tax abatement is when a board grants a taxpayer the exemption of paying taxes for a given time period.

Hoosier Energy might build a multi-story Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design certified building with about 80,000 square feet. The building would keep 116 full-time positions according to the legislative documents for the city council meeting.

LEED certification is a rating system for United States green buildings by the U.S. Green Building Council.

Council members voted 7-1 to recommend the approval of a 10-year tax abatement and 7-0-1 to recommend vacating a right-of-way on South Tech Park Boulevard.

Council member Chris Sturbaum said he favors the relocation of Hoosier Energy.
“They looked all over the place, all over the state,” Sturbam said. “We needed to step up and have them stay here.”

Sturbaum said he liked that the company is looking at staying in Bloomington.

“We’re always talking about the quality of life and Bloomington being something that attracts business and drives economy,” Sturbaum said. “No matter what the tax abatement was, people wanted to be around Bloomington.”

Sturbaum said a tax abatement is necessary for the move.

“If everyone else is offering something like that, to not offer an abatement would be an indication to them we don’t care if they stay or not,” Sturbaum said. “If you lose them, you lose all that tax money.”

For the new building, Hoosier Energy is looking at a LEED silver certification, the second level of certification.

LEED certification begins with a “certified” designation and then progresses through silver and gold to platinum, the highest level of certification.

“A building LEED certified will also be more energy efficient and will be designed to utilize things such as natural lighting,” said Danise Alano-Martin, director of the economic and sustainable development department. “There’s a number of great benefits of green buildings, and LEED certification is one of the more popular standards that people try to achieve.”

Alano-Martin said Hoosier Energy is planning on implementing sustainability features
such as carpool spaces and six spaces for electric plug-in vehicles.

“The building design is one that they are working on to make sure it protects the area,” Alano-Martin said. “Surrounding where the building will be, they will be planting native tree species opposed to invasive.”

Alano-Martin said the company also has a comprehensive educational and environmental community outreach program and a lending library provided to schools for environmental education.

“The City of Bloomington is very excited about this project,” Alano-Martin said. “We are very happy they are considering the City of Bloomington location. It’s an important, long-standing company in Monroe County.”

Alano-Martin said Hoosier Energy will go to their board of directors in March and finalize a site for the relocation.

Sturbaum said the project is beneficial to everyone from an environmental standpoint.
“It’s good for the planet, and it’s good for the company,” Sturbaum said. “By building it efficiently, they are going to help the planet and help themselves be sustainable throughout the future. It’s a smart business.”

Sturbaum said Bloomington would miss out by not keeping Hoosier Energy in the city.
“If you lose them, you lose every cent,” he said. “If you keep them, you keep them for the foreseeable future. The community shares the cost to some very small extent, but really it’s a win-win.”