Eau Claire lures call center with incentive package

The City of Eau Claire, in conjunction with Eau Claire County and four other economic development entities, has attracted King of Prussia,PA-based GSI Commerce to locate in the former Pleasant Company building in the Sky Park Industrial Center, 1435 Continental Dr., to establish an e-commerce call center.

GSI Commerce, a publicly-traded company, specializes in helping a broad range of retail clients fulfill and service orders from individuals who order products over the Internet. Some of the firm's clients include NASCAR, Major League Baseball, the National Football League, Radio Shack, Bath & Body Works, Dick's Sporting Goods and Zale's, to name a few.

"We have another call center in Florida and two distribution facilities, or fulfillment centers, in the Louisville,Kentucky area. Our plan is to purchase or lease another fulfillment center sometime in 2007," said GSI Commerce Corporate Communications Director Greg Ryan, who added that the company intends to construct a 15,000-square-foot addition to the Sky Park facility by the end of 2008.

The Eau Claire City Council this week uanimously approved a $215,000 forgivable loan package that will assist the company with equipment purchases, working capital and job training.

"The incentive package calls for the creation of 400 jobs in the first year and 732 full-time equivalent jobs by December 31st, 2009. If GSI maintains that for another three years after that, then the loan will be forgiven. If the company does not maintain that employment base, then the company has to pay back the city on a pro-rata basis," said City of Eau Claire Economic Development Specialist Mike Schatz, who added that he worked with other local agencies to participate in the proposal.

TBL