West Valley City offering $100,000 to local finance company

WEST VALLEY CITY — A locally owned investment company has added 200 high-paying jobs in its first seven years and hopes to double that within the next few years.

The Governor's Office of Economic Development has decided not to give Green River Capital LC an incentive to stay in the state but Tuesday the West Valley Redevelopment Agency will consider granting the company $100,000 over two years if it promises to stay put for seven years.

A majority of Green River's employees are single moms who make at least $65,000 a year, said Chief Regulatory Officer Cecinia Hahn. The company has focused on real estate investments and has deals all over the country.

It had been considering a move to places as far away as Atlanta, Ga. or Florida but decided to stay in West Valley when the incentive was offered.

If approved by the city council, acting as the redevelopment agency, the $100,000 will come from interest earned on funds garnered in property tax deals with other projects around town.

If the deal goes through, the first half of the money will have to be used on renovating the company's existing building at 2691 South Decker Lake Lane and making room for the expected new employees.

"This is going to be a great investment for the city because we are going to be using that to add employees to our company and adding to the property as well," said Hahn, explaining that new workers cost the company about $3,000 each.

Green River Capital is in negotiations to provide service to a major national bank but couldn't reveal its name Tuesday, said Hahn. However, it is confident the new jobs will materialize.

For West Valley, new white-collar jobs are a major plus, said city Economic Development Director Brent Garlick. The city has many manufacturing jobs but could use some balance in the financial sector, he explained. Garlick also wants to boost the neighborhood in which Green River Capital relocated last June.

"The building they were looking at is kind of run-down and the area has a high vacancy rate," said Garlick. "They're going in an area that we think can be a real anchor."

About six weeks ago, West Valley gave a similar incentive to Cardinal Health to remain in their 175,000-square-foot building in the city, said Garlick. That followed a deal with Dayco Industries a few years ago where the city spent $50,000, he said.

But redevelopment spending on businesses that are not part of project areas is the exception and can only be done with money earned on interest. West Valley has done it only four or five times, said Garlick.

Tuesday's study meeting about the incentive starts at 4:30 but the city council won't convene and vote as the RDA board until 6:30 p.m.

For more information, visit www.wvc-ut.gov or www.greenrivercap.com.

e-mail: rpalmer@desnews.com