eBay Inc. and the Utah Governor’s Office of Economic Development (GOED) announced plans Monday to build a new state-of-the-art facility in Utah, currently proposed at a site in Draper.
“eBay has been a valuable, visible Utah company for more than a decade,” said Governor Gary R. Herbert. “This agreement will bring new operating units and new jobs to the State. When world-class companies like eBay pledge partnership with Utah, it is a vote of confidence in the economic growth and stability that we are currently enjoying.”
eBay, the world’s largest online marketplace, announced plans to create up to 2,200 new jobs in Utah over the next 20 years. All of the incented jobs will exceed 125% of the county’s average wage including full benefits.
“eBay’s new facility will be designed to high environmental standards and provide a great place to work for our teammates,” said Steve Boehm, Senior Vice President, Marketplaces, Global Customer Services. “We express our appreciation to the State of Utah, Draper City, the Governor’s Office of Economic Development and the Economic Development Corporation of Utah for the outstanding support they’ve provided that makes this project possible.”
eBay has maintained a Utah presence for nearly 12 years. During that time, GOED has competed against other states to bring a steady stream of job opportunities to the State. In 2009 alone, GOED helped eBay expand its operations and add more than 400 jobs for Utah citizens. “We are excited that eBay is proposing a site in Draper for its new facility,” said Draper Mayor Darrell Smith. “We look forward to a continued partnership with them as they grow as a company.”
The new eBay facility will continue the company’s commitment to environmental responsibility while providing a great place to work for its employees. The new facility will be designed to achieve LEED(R) Gold certification. LEED(R) certification is the internationally recognized standard for measuring building sustainability and all buildings newly constructed by eBay are built to this standard.
The new facility will join eBay’s state-of-the-art data center in South Jordan, which previously received LEED(R) Gold certification and became one of only a few data centers in the United States to be recognized at this level.
“The Governor’s Office of Economic Development values the long-term commitments of its private sector business partners,” said Spencer Eccles, Executive Director of GOED. “As more companies within our seven strategic business clusters come to the State, we develop critical mass, which diversifies Utah’s economic base and enhances the positive economic environment for every person and business.”
The GOED board approved for eBay a one-time, post-performance refundable tax credit of $38,156,092 over 20 years. In addition to the new jobs and accounting for the construction of the new facility, the incentive combines and expands two previous job-based incentives (in May and October 2009) into a single comprehensive incentive. This combined incentive is based on eBay expanding its workforce by over 2,480 Utah employees at an average salary that will exceed 125% of the Salt Lake County average wage. If eBay meets these hiring goals it will result in $127,186,975 in new state tax revenue over the 20-year project timeline.