Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity (DCEO) will award Easton-Bell Sports Inc. up to $3.4 million in tax credits, job training grants and other incentives if it hits employment and other targets at a massive new distribution, assembly and shared services center its building in Rantoul, IL. 


The state’s incentive package includes Economic Development for Growing Economy tax credits, which are based on jobs and distributed over a period of 10 years and a training grant through the Employer Training Investment Program. The DCEO will administer the package, which will help create 50 new jobs and retain 255 jobs.
 
The incentives were outlined Wednesday at an official groundbreaking ceremony for the 800,000-square-foot building attended by Illinois Governor Pat Quinn.

The new center, which is scheduled to be completed in late 2013, will house 300 existing Easton-Bell employees and serve as one of the company’s primary North American sites for assembling, distributing and servicing Easton, Bell, Riddell, Giro and Blackburn brand products. Construction of the LEED-certified facility will entail the laying of approximately 18 miles of electrical cable, 42,000 cubic yards of concrete weighing approximately 85,000 tons, and 3,000 tons of steel.


The new center will consolidate Easton-Bell Sports’ current operations in Rantoul in a single building capable of shipping more than 13 million units a year. It is located in the Village Industrial Park at the NW intersection of Highway 136 and Interstate 57.