Mike Wolanin | The Republic A sign marks the site where Toyota Material Handling’s new electric forklift plant expansion will be located at Toyota Material Handling North America in Columbus, Ind., Wednesday, May 29, 2024.
City officials have dedicated a right-of-way associated with a local employers’ future 260,000 square-foot manufacturing facility.
The Board of Public Works and Safety dedicated less than a half-acre of right-of-way along County Road 300S that was required as part of Toyota Material Handling’s (TMH) new facility at the northeast corner of Deaver Road and I-65/County Road 225W that is under construction.
Planning officials presented what is referred to as the “TMH – Deaver Road Administrative Subdivision plat,” which combines three parcels into a 65-acre single lot and dedicates the right-of-way along County Road 300S, north of the site’s property line.
The new manufacturing facility, a $96 million project Toyota dubbed “Project Golden Eagle,” will be focused on the production of electric forklifts and is adjacent to the company’s current facility.
Toyota officials said there was simply not enough land to accommodate its 10-year growth forecast at its current location.
The Columbus Plan Commission forwarded favorable recommendations on both the annexation and rezoning by a 10-0 vote at its Feb. 14 meeting.
Columbus City Council members on April 2 approved the second reading of two ordinances that annexed and rezoned the property from Agriculture: Preferred (AP) to Industrial: General (I2). At that time, council also approved the accompanying fiscal plan, which indicated that there will be little or no additional cost to the city as a result of the annexation.
During the council’s next meeting on April 16, members voted to approve a confirmatory resolution designating 2914 Deaver Road and two adjoining parcels to the north, with I-65 and County Road 225W to the west, as an Economic Revitalization Area (ERA). The ERA designation qualified the company for a 10-year real property tax abatement on the $51,884,315 cost for construction of the facility and a 10-year personal property tax abatement on the $44,215,685 cost of the installation of new equipment.
The abatements will save Toyota about $17 million, but they will still pay “almost $9 million” on the property over the next 10 years, Director or Community Development Robin Hilber said at the time.
The Columbus Redevelopment Commission on Aug. 19 took the last step in a four-part process to extend the city’s central tax-increment-financing (TIF) district so it includes the new facility.
City, state, and Toyota officials broke ground at the manufacturing site on May 29. The new facility is expected to create 85 jobs at an at an average wage of $28.88 and retain the current 1,883 workers, Toyota representatives have said. The factory is expected to start production in June 2026.
Toyota Material Handling has been in Columbus since 1990 and the expansion represents a total of $400 million invested in the campus since that time, the company said.
