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From the January 28, 2000 print edition |
A California company founded by a Bosnian immigrant might be Kentucky bound.
If the Kentucky Economic Development Finance Authority approves tax incentives to help pay for the move, T.A. Edison, which designs and installs voice, data and video wiring, plans to relocate its headquarters to Bowman Field from Southern California.
T.A. Edison's application for $1 million in corporate income tax credits was scheduled for preliminary action Thursday, after Business First's press deadline. (Three other companies also were seeking tax credits; see article on page 55.)
Bowman Field likely would be the site for the new headquarters, which would have 36 employees, said Chuck Hayes, chief operating officer of T.A. Edison. "We are thinking about building on the property to house our airplanes," he said.
He said negotiations are under way with officials of the Regional Airport Authority for a site on the Dutchmans Lane side of the air field.
Lew Bleiweis, the air board's property manager, said T.A. Edison would occupy a 16,750-square-foot "executive hangar" to house its offices, warehouse and airplanes. Proposals are out now for bids on the project, and the cost has not been determined, he said.
Three similar buildings are being built for a pilot, club and business as part of Bowman Field's efforts to attract business, particularly smaller, privately owned planes.
"Bowman Field is a general aviation airport. We try to locate and house smaller aircraft so as not to interfere with traffic" at Louisville International Airport, Bleiweis said.
The larger airport has hangars for private airplanes, but leasing and landing costs are less at Bowman Field, Bleiweis said.
The airport authority staff floated a trial balloon last year to determine if there was support for developing raw land on the 80-year-old airport. The northeastern section borders Seneca Park, and opposition was immediate and intense.
The air board then agreed not to proceed with construction along Pee Wee Reese Road for at least 10 years, and then "it would be purely for aeronautical purposes," said Jim DeLong, general manager of the airport authority.
Hayes said company executives want to be near an airport because T.A. Edison is buying two airplanes as part of the company's strategy to increase sales by concentrating on building a customer base in the Eastern United States.
And Louisville is "central to the area being targeted for new business," he said.
That is a message that local economic development officials have been relaying to businesses for more than a decade. "Geography is relevant," said Steve Higdon, president and chief executive officer of Greater Louisville Inc. "We are within a day's drive of 60 percent of the population ... that translates into 60 percent of any company's customer base."
Higdon acknowledged that a number of cities within this region can make a similar claim. Tipping the scales in Louisville's favor are several factors, ranging from quality of life to state incentives, he said.
The timetable for opening a Kentucky headquarters "depends on state action," Hayes said. "We'll press on from there."
T.A. Edison also is looking at sites in Cincinnati and Nashville, and in Indiana. Hayes said Louisville has the edge because of the incentives provided by the 1992 Kentucky Economic Development Act.
"Louisville offers a good working environment, and the state wants to work with companies that want to do business in the state," he said.
A move to Louisville also would mean an expansion for T.A. Edison.
Started 12 years ago in Playa Del Ray, Calif., by Dzevad "Jerry" Sirbegovic -- a telecommunications engineering graduate of the University of Sarajevo -- the company currently has 22 employees. Sirbegovic is the company's president.
Fourteen positions would be added at the new headquarters, Hayes said. Overall, the average annual salary at T.A. Edison would be $71,000.
Existing employees have been asked to relocate, but Hayes said it is unlikely that anyone but top executives would make the move.
T.A. Edison has done business in the Louisville area for some time -- one of its former customers is Vencor Inc. -- and Hayes is well-aware of the tight job market here.
Nonetheless, he doesn't expect the company to have problems finding, training and keeping employees. "We are ready to make investments in our people."
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