Wichita City Council lauds Globe Engineering

Wichita-based Globe Engineering is humming along, and the city is taking notice.

The City Council on Tuesday approved a new five-year tax abatement agreement for the aerospace industry supplier that will save it 57 percent on real property tax costs over that time.

The move comes after the company exceeded city requirements during its first five-year abatement agreement, which recently ended. While the city required Globe to create at least nine new jobs during the past five years, it ended up creating more than 40, placing its current workforce at 218, according to company president Jeff Teague.

“It’s nice to see someone exceed our expectations,” said Mayor Jeff Longwell during Tuesday’s City Council meeting. “This is very welcomed, and it helps diversify our local economy and manufacturing job market.”

Globe, which has its main complex at 1539 S. St. Paul in southwest Wichita, also is completing a new building at 2432 S. Sheridan, Teague said. The previous five-year tax abatement was tied to a 13,500-square-foot addition at its main campus — which was completed several years ago — along with the additional job creation and the purchase of more than $1 million in manufacturing equipment, according to city documents.

“We’re busy,” Teague said Tuesday afternoon. “You never know how the market will change depending on a lot of different variables, but we’re growing right now.

“We were hoping the new (tax abatement) would go through, so we’re happy.”

Globe was approved for the economic development program in 2008 with its tax exempt status beginning in 2009. Globe began operations in 1946 while making children’s high chairs and booster seats. It later expanded its business to include the manufacture of a number of aviation-based pieces of equipment, including spinners and various welded tubes.

This story was originally published September 8, 2015 at 4:02 PM with the headline "Wichita City Council lauds Globe Engineering."