These companies are asking for tax incentives to expand in Fort Worth

Two companies, Raider Express, a Fort Worth-based family-owned refrigerated trucking firm, and NT Windows, a window manufacturer located in unincorporated Tarrant County looking to move into the city, are seeking incentives from Fort Worth to make expansions.

Raider Express, founded in 1998, wants to move to near U.S. 287 and Willow Springs Road, about 17 miles north of its location on Cold Springs Road in north Fort Worth. There, it will build a $13 million, 61,000-square-foot office, training and maintenance facility by the end of December 2019.

But in order to receive a requested 50 percent tax abatement over a period of five years, the appraised value of the real and personal business property at the new site will need to rise three times over the next seven years, ending at $136.1 million by January of 2025. So will its employment numbers. The company will need 442 full-time jobs by 2020, but increase that to 622 by 2024.

NT Windows, an $11 million company founded in 1990 making vinyl replacement windows, plans to renovate a 59-year-old manufacturing facility at 2800 Seminary Drive that’s been vacant for six years. The company is asking for the incentive, worth about $660,000, to help cover costs to bring the building up to code, according to a city report.

The company said it plans to spend $5.6 million in construction costs and $3.8 million in business personal property by Dec. 31, 2019. The company has 130 full-time employees. It sells its windows in 10 states, including Texas, according to its website.

NT Window’s economic development program agreement is a reimbursement of some of the city’s portion of real and business personal property taxes, and the city’s 1 percent sales tax. The abatement runs for six years.

To receive the incentives, both companies will need to meet certain criteria regarding construction spending with Fort Worth and Fort Worth minority and women-owned companies, as well as hiring central city residents, or those who live within Loop 820.

The City Council will hear about the proposed incentives at a work session Tuesday. The council is scheduled to vote on Raider Express’s request Feb. 6 and NT Windows request Jan. 30.

This story was originally published January 19, 2018 at 8:15 PM with the headline "These companies are asking for tax incentives to expand in Fort Worth."