Vistaprint Could Add More than 600 Jobs to Dallas Area with New Facility

Cimpress may be bringing more than 600 full-time jobs to Dallas County, which would help to boost the local economy, one that's said to be afflicted by poverty and unemployment. Dallas News, the website for The Dallas Morning News, reported that the Dutch company - which ranked as No. 4 on the Printing Impressions' Top 400 list in 2017 -  may invest up to $50 million to build a 322,000-sq.-ft. manufacturing facility for its subsidiary Vistaprint in a town slightly south of Dallas. The plan, called Project Apollo, has been kept a secret for months and is now set to be voted on by the Dallas City Council on June 13, according to the newspaper's website. 

The Council will vote to offer almost $1.7 million in incentives for economic development. If the project does in fact move forth, it could have a major economic impact on the area.The project report claims the facility would bring more than 625 full-time jobs to the area, either as new or relocated positions, and it would add 125 seasonal jobs, by July 2023. Not only that, it is reported that the overall median wage for all full-time workers would be $40,000. According to Data USA, the median household income in Dallas is $54,399, which is 5.9% lower than the national average ($57,617).

According to Dallas News:

The economic incentives proposal from Dallas includes $1.3 million in property tax abatements for up to 10 years for Vistaprint Manufacturing Texas and project developer Becknell Industrial Operating Partnership. Becknell would develop the land and lease it to Vistaprint for 10 years, with an option for the company to buy the plot outright.

The city's economic development incentives package also includes up to $300,000 in Chapter 380 economic development grants to assist Vistaprint with workforce training programs for Dallas workers.

Dallas estimates that the project would generate net revenue of more than $1.8 million over 10 years.

This isn't the first large business to move to the area, though, Dallas News explains that city officials have worked to attract business to the county, and have succeeded in bringing Amazon and L'Oréal to the same area where Vistaprint has proposed its new manufcaturing facility.

It's also not the first time Vistaprint has been offered incentives by a local government. In 2017, it was reported that Vistaprint had been offered $2.2 million in tax breaks by Rhode Island to bring its national sales office to the state. However, some local print shop owners weren't all too pleased with the large online printer being offered money to relocate, arguing that the state hadn't offered their businesses any incentives.

For the Dallas County facility, Phase 1 of the project - or a $15 million investment and the completion of 200,000 sq. ft. of the 322,000-sq.-ft. facility - is estimated to be finished by the end of 2019.