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Description of Business, ownership, history, product and services <br /> <br />Description of Project <br /> <br />Sportech, Inc. is an innovation-driven plastics thermoformer specializing in the design, <br />development and production of quality products and accessories for the recreational and utility <br />product industry that began in 1994. The first product was the Indy Lightshield, which <br />eliminates snow from covering the headlights of snowmobiles. This product is recognized today <br />as one of the most innovative and best-selling accessories ever introduced to the snowmobile <br />market. Since then, Sportech has continued to evolve and grow, through their development of <br />numerous ground-breaking aftermarket snowmobile products and significant company growth. <br />As a Tier-1 supplier to OEMs, they design and manufacture windshields, body panels and <br />screen printed parts for motorcycles, snowmobiles, scooters, ATVs, UTVs and more. <br /> <br />Originally a home based business in the Carlson garage, the company moved to a 10,000 <br />square foot facility in 1998, and built a brand new 96,000 sq. ft. facility (Building 1) in Elk River <br />in 2008. In 2012, an additional 55,000 square foot facility (Building 2) was added in Elk River <br />for warehouse and assembly productions. In 2015, they purchased 14 acres from the City of <br />Elk River, and built a 105,000 sq. ft. facility and moved into it in early 2016 (removing previous <br />Building 2), bringing their total square footage to 201,000 sq. ft. The building was purchased by <br />Meritex, a private real estate investment and management company in May 2016, and the <br />business (Sportech) was purchased by Off Road Acquisition Co., LLC (becoming a wholly <br />owned subsidiary) in December of 2019. <br />Continuing to see exponential growth under new ownership, the company has now grown by <br />over 100 employees in the past five years. Sportech currently employs a total of 322 FT <br />employees company wide, 171 total FT employees in Building 2. <br />Sportech's continued growth has resulted in the company rapidly outgrowing its current physical <br />plant size, as well as production capacity. This project will strengthen the local economy <br />through increased tax base, the retention of 323 well-paying jobs, and the creation of a <br />minimum of 85 new FTE within three years of proposed JCF project completion at the JCF <br />project site. <br />The new expansion would retain 171 employees (132 FTE), plus will create an additional 85 full- <br />time employees created by the proposed project. Average base wage of B2 employees is <br />$17.92/hr (excluding benefits), $22.76 (including benefits). Average wage of jobs to be created <br />at the expanded site is $18.20/hr, (excluding benefits), $23.04 (including benefits). <br />Currently, Sportech contributes approximately $360,000 annually in property taxes between the <br />two buildings (B2 project site contributes $196,000/yr). Preliminary tax estimates anticipate the <br />new facility will generate an additional $99,405/yr. <br />This project will keep a MN based company in Minnesota; with over 25 years in Elk River, MN, <br />the company would like to continue to grow, create jobs, and contribute to the local economy. <br />Sportech prides themselves in diligently working to diversify their workforce. With employees