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Columbus
Business First...
Wendy’s
bringing HQ back, adding 50
jobs
By Dan Eaton
Thursday, August 4, 2011
Wendy’s
Co. is bringing its corporate
headquarters back to Dublin along with 50 jobs – and $12 million in
state and
local incentives in hand.
The
fast food chain Thursday announced
plans for an $11 million renovation of its 35-year-old Dublin office
complex
and the return of 50 executive-level jobs that were moved to Atlanta
after the
company’s 2008 acquisition by Triarc Companies Inc.
“This
could’ve happened in Georgia,”
Gov. John Kasich said at a press conference announcing the move. “There
was a
choice.”
Wendy’s
spokesman Denny Lynch said
afterward that the company considered Atlanta, Dublin and other Ohio
locations
for the 50 jobs. The company also considered Dublin and other Ohio
locations
for the 388 jobs currently in Dublin, but chose to reinvest in the
current
facility. It did not consider moving jobs in Dublin to Atlanta.
Kasich
said the return-on-investment
for the state’s $4 million in incentives is positive for Ohio and its
taxpayers. Kristina Clouse, assistant director of the Ohio Department
of
Development strategic business investment division, also said the exact
return
to Ohio isn’t yet known but is in the millions. The payroll of the
returning
jobs is estimated at $10 million. One of the state’s incentives is a 55
percent
credit on the payroll taxes of those jobs.
Dublin
is offering $8.2 million in
incentives of its own
“From
our point of view, Wendy’s never
left,” Dublin Mayor Tim Lecklider told the assembled crowd. He said the
company
was one of Dublin’s first major corporate tenants and is a key
component to its
Bridge Street Corridor plans for the area stretching across the Scioto
River
and through historic Dublin.
Wendy’s
CEO Roland Smith said the $11
million investment in the 249,000-square-foot headquarters will give
Wendy’s
(NYSE:WEN) a more modern corporate office and better working conditions
for
all. Improvement plans include a redesigned main entrance and lobby,
upgrades
to common areas like bathrooms and hallways, a complete renovation on
Building
Five on the complex, which will include a new boardroom, additional
meeting
space in its innovation center, a new meeting center that will hold up
to 700,
and an on-campus fitness center, a first for the company.
BHDP
Architecture, which has offices
in Columbus, Cincinnati and Durham, N.C., is the architect on the
project,
which is expected to be substantially completed by mid-2012.
Read
it at Columbus Business First
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