A nearly $1.2 million expansion has Vera Bradley Inc. creating 101 jobs – the kind that economic boosters high-five over.Over the course of a year, the company will fill 101 clerical and management jobs with salaries ranging from $53,000 to $125,000.
The maker of quilted handbags, luggage and accessories filed paperwork seeking a tax abatement along with Great Dane Realty. Vera Bradley will lease property at 12420 Silverado Drive in southwest Fort Wayne from Great Dane, which is owned by Vera Bradley co-founder Barbara Bradley Baekgaard.
The companies will make an appeal before the Allen County Council on June 16. The firms would save about $98,000 in taxes over 10 years on equipment and improvements.
In April, Vera Bradley announced plans to create a design center at the Silverado Drive building that formerly housed Baekgaard Ltd. The shuttered company was founded by Peer Baekgaard, late husband of Baekgaard. Vera Bradley’s 88-member design team will move into the 39,200-square-feet building that cost $4 million to construct in 2007. The location is across the street from the company’s distribution center on Stonebridge Road, which is visible from I-69.
Officials expect renovations to wrap up by the end of summer. Vera Bradley employs more than 1,500, including 800 in northeast Indiana. The business has hired more than 220 in the area in the past year. The company reported $43.2 million in earnings last year. The showing came on the heels of a successful initial public offering of stock in October. Vera Bradley raised more than $202 million in the IPO before banking fees. In January, Baekgaard chose to focus on Vera Bradley and closed Baekgaard Ltd.
Economy watchers in Fort Wayne often criticize job announcements in the city because the salaries aren’t considered “livable wages.” That complaint can’t be made about the Vera Bradley positions, said Andi Udris, president of the Fort Wayne-Allen County Economic Development Alliance.
“The additional jobs will be wonderful,” he said. “Vera Bradley is a home-grown company, so anything we can do to help them grow we want to offer support.”
Udris also disputes the notion that many of the new jobs recently created are low-paying.
“The salaries have averaged $58,000 a year,” he said, “and you have to remember that not everyone is looking to support a family with a full-time job.”
College students, semi-retired persons and homemakers are among those seeking work, Udris said.
“Our unemployment is lower than the national average and it’s good to have a variety” of pay scales, he said. “Jobs don’t always have to be of the General Electric-type.”
The Fort Wayne metropolitan area, which includes Allen, Whitley and Wells counties, had an 8 percent unemployment rate in April, based on the most recent figures from the Indiana Department of Workforce Development. The national rate in May was 9.1 percent, seasonally adjusted.
Vera Bradley has already started renovations and likely will move into the building on Silverado Drive by September, spokeswoman Melissa Schenkel said.
The maker of quilted handbags, luggage and accessories filed paperwork seeking a tax abatement along with Great Dane Realty. Vera Bradley will lease property at 12420 Silverado Drive in southwest Fort Wayne from Great Dane, which is owned by Vera Bradley co-founder Barbara Bradley Baekgaard.
The companies will make an appeal before the Allen County Council on June 16. The firms would save about $98,000 in taxes over 10 years on equipment and improvements.
In April, Vera Bradley announced plans to create a design center at the Silverado Drive building that formerly housed Baekgaard Ltd. The shuttered company was founded by Peer Baekgaard, late husband of Baekgaard. Vera Bradley’s 88-member design team will move into the 39,200-square-feet building that cost $4 million to construct in 2007. The location is across the street from the company’s distribution center on Stonebridge Road, which is visible from I-69.
Officials expect renovations to wrap up by the end of summer. Vera Bradley employs more than 1,500, including 800 in northeast Indiana. The business has hired more than 220 in the area in the past year. The company reported $43.2 million in earnings last year. The showing came on the heels of a successful initial public offering of stock in October. Vera Bradley raised more than $202 million in the IPO before banking fees. In January, Baekgaard chose to focus on Vera Bradley and closed Baekgaard Ltd.
Economy watchers in Fort Wayne often criticize job announcements in the city because the salaries aren’t considered “livable wages.” That complaint can’t be made about the Vera Bradley positions, said Andi Udris, president of the Fort Wayne-Allen County Economic Development Alliance.
“The additional jobs will be wonderful,” he said. “Vera Bradley is a home-grown company, so anything we can do to help them grow we want to offer support.”
Udris also disputes the notion that many of the new jobs recently created are low-paying.
“The salaries have averaged $58,000 a year,” he said, “and you have to remember that not everyone is looking to support a family with a full-time job.”
College students, semi-retired persons and homemakers are among those seeking work, Udris said.
“Our unemployment is lower than the national average and it’s good to have a variety” of pay scales, he said. “Jobs don’t always have to be of the General Electric-type.”
The Fort Wayne metropolitan area, which includes Allen, Whitley and Wells counties, had an 8 percent unemployment rate in April, based on the most recent figures from the Indiana Department of Workforce Development. The national rate in May was 9.1 percent, seasonally adjusted.
Vera Bradley has already started renovations and likely will move into the building on Silverado Drive by September, spokeswoman Melissa Schenkel said.
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