Cleveland-Based Tap Packaging Solutions Announces Plans to Move to Brooklyn

By John Benson, special to cleveland.com

Cleveland-based Tap Packaging Solutions has announced plans to lease a Tiedeman Road building from Premier Partners LLC. The site is currently home to Keystone Tailored Manufacturing, which is closing its doors next month.

“We obviously feel sorry for the people who are losing their jobs at Keystone, but the quick replacement with Tap Packaging Solutions minimizes that impact,” Brooklyn Department of Economic Development Director Andi Udris said. “It’s a 250,000-square foot building, and Tap Packaging Solutions will be leasing 208,000 square feet.

“I think they’re a stronger tenant from a city standpoint of trying to stabilize our tax revenues. Keystone had a $5.1 million payroll and Tap Packaging Solutions is estimating a $6.1 million payroll," Udris said.

Tap Packaging Solutions Chairman David B. Chilcote said the company -- which focuses on general, confectionery, industrial, pharmaceutical and cosmetic packaging -- has been at its current Cleveland location since 1912.

The company needed to expand from its current 180,000-square-foot, multi-level operation on Superior Avenue. The one-floor Tiedeman Road location will be useful in streamlining its production.

“I started talking to the guys from Premier Development four years ago,” Chilcote said. “It took a while to conclude a transaction for our current property. Simultaneously, we had been looking at a couple of different properties with Premier.”

To help facilitate Tap Packaging Solutions’ move into Brooklyn, the city is providing an $86,000 Job Retention and Creation Grant related to the relocation of 125 existing jobs and the creation of 15 new jobs over three years, leading to an estimated annual payroll of $6.1 million.

The deal also requires a $1 million renovation of the Tiedeman Road property, as well as $5 million investment of IT, moving expenses, equipment, furniture, construction and working capital.

“We estimate paying $41,000 the first year, $30,000 the second year and $15,000 the third year,” Udris said. “They have to retain the estimated $6.1 million in annual payroll for 10 years.”

Chilcote said the Job Retention and Creation Grant was important in the company’s decision to move to Brooklyn.

“We had a couple of different communities we were looking at,” Chilcote said. “We want to feel wanted where we’re going. The reception we received from Brooklyn has been very welcoming and very warming. I feel very comfortable working with them.”

Prior to committing to the move, Chilcote said the company completed a study relative to the location. The results revealed that the move to Brooklyn was good for roughly 90 percent of its employees.

“We’re committing more than $6 million to the facility in a combination of renovation, purchasing new equipment, and some new furniture and fixtures,” Chilcote said.

Udris, who expects Tap Packaging Solutions to complete its renovations by the end of the year, said also playing a role in the deal was the recent Brooklyn Community Improvement Corporation (CIC) sale of an adjacent 6.8 acres of land to Premier Partners LLC for additional parking at 4600 Tiedeman Road.

Originally published on www.Cleveland.com