Arc said it would hire 10 new employees locally within five years, paying salaries averaging $40,000.
Houston-based Arc bought the tank farms in May from Dunhill Terminals LP, which sold the locations after filing for bankruptcy protection.
Arc had previously acquired a loan on the terminals from Regions Bank. To gain control of Dunhill, Arc said that it forgave $40 million in debt and paid $500,000 in cash into the bankruptcy case, according to court papers. Other creditors of Dunhill got nothing, though, as the costs of bankruptcy ate up Dunhill’s remaining cash, the court record shows.
Monday, the Mobile city Industrial Development Board approved tax breaks worth $1.13 million for the Blakeley Island location. Exemptions include a five-year break on the non-school portion of property taxes, worth an estimated $533,666, and a sales tax waiver, worth an estimated $594,000.
The board also reaffirmed two remaining years of property tax breaks on Dunhill’s original deal, worth an estimated $321,346, according to board records.
Dunhill had originally received sales tax abatements worth $1.03 million and property tax abatements worth more than $800,000. Troy Wayman, the vice president of economic development for the Mobile Area Chamber of Commerce, said that Dunhill used the sales tax breaks on construction material, but never filed for the property tax breaks. Such breaks are usually transferable, said Mack Binion, the board’s lawyer.
At the time of the bankruptcy, papers said Dunhill had the capacity to store 650,000 barrels of oil or other petroleum products at its Chickasaw terminal and had a planned capacity of 850,000 barrels on Blakeley Island.
Arc rents out its tanks to other companies, John Blanchard, its president, said during the meeting. He told board members that the company could expand further at the Blakeley Island site.
Blanchard declined further comment afterward, and Arc representatives could not be reached for comment later Monday.