Even amidst the scare of the COVID-19 pandemic health crisis, a local developer is looking to the future and what Seymour needs to attract new business and industry.

Andy Royalty, president of TDAK Development Inc. and Royalty Group of Seymour, plans to construct a 60,000-square-foot spec or shell building to market to companies looking to start a new venture, relocate or expand here.

The $2.5 million building will be located on Elsner Drive in the Eastside Industrial Park.

City officials voted 6-0 approving a tax abatement for the project Monday, holding TDAK exempt from paying full property taxes for a period of 10 years. Council President Dave Earley was not in attendance. Some council members joined in via teleconference, while others met at city hall while still following state and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention protocols to prevent the spread of the virus.

For the first year of the abatement, TDAK will not have to pay any taxes on the property. Each year thereafter, the company will be required to pay a percentage, which increases each year until the abatement expires.

This isn’t the first time Royalty has taken on such a project. In 2016, he built a $1.4 million 70,000-square-foot spec building on Killion Avenue. It has been sold and is being leased to Aisin USA Mfg. Inc. as a warehouse. That process took about three years.

The new building will be located on property just east of that project, said Jim Plump, executive director of Jackson County Industrial Development Corp.

Plump spoke on behalf of TDAK in requesting the tax abatement.

“From JCIDC’s standpoint, I can tell you we are in dire need of space,” he said. “The majority of projects that call are looking for buildings, and we really do not have anything we can offer. Andy has really stepped up in the past, and we appreciate him doing this again.”

Once a tenant is found for the building, the abatement will be transferred to the new company, and future abatement may be granted for building expansions and/or equipment purchases. At that time, there will be a potential for job creation.

Construction is scheduled to begin in early May and be completed by the end of September.

After the project gets started, Plump said JCIDC will begin advertising and marketing the building.

“As the name implies, it’s speculative, but Andy has in the past been willing to take the risk, and we will do our best to get it filled,” Plump said.