State development finance panel approves millions of dollars in requests

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The Delaware Council on Development Finance Monday approved millions of dollars of Strategic Grant requests that include funds for expanding a financial technology company, a processor of cheesesteak meat, and a manufacturer of cottages for campgrounds.

The state awarded strategic Fund grants to companies that meet benchmarks in adding or retaining jobs. The cost of grants is often offset in a few years by income taxes paid by additional employees and taxes related to the construction of facilities.

Investor Cash Holding, Inc. (ICH) requested a Strategic Fund grant for $4,258,410 to establish financial technology-based cash management operations in Wilmington. The Chicago-based company has been in existence for three years and is launching full operations. The company is building a product that combines investment and banking accounts. The bank account is federally insured.

Credit card giant VISA is one of the investors of the company. One of the company’s customers is Delaware State University, which offers students, staff, and the DSU community via an Apple or Google app. The company would use funds to build a platform for its technology. The company plans to buy later and build out its own building. The company’s current Delaware office is based in downtown Wilmington.

The company was granted a closed executive session to discuss what it viewed as proprietary financial details. The meeting was reopened, but financial details or employment figures were not publicly discussed.

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A later release from the Delaware Prosperity Partnership, the private-public entity working with Investor Cash Holdings, provided details that include the Chicago-based company adding a headquarters operation.

The company confirmed plans to build a $15.37 million headquarters in Wilmington.

ICM currently employs 30 and plans to grow its workforce to 395 over the next three years

The jobs created will include tech positions, such as coders and programmers, sales, marketing, customer service, administrative, finance, and managerial positions.

ICM founder and CEO Fred Phillips cited Wilmington’s status as a financial hub as a reason for the location decision, which included a look at sites in other states.

A press conference is scheduled today to formally announce the company’s plans. Officials of the company and Gov. John Carney will be in attendance.

Other approved requests:

  • Analytical Biological Services – A Delaware Strategic Fund grant for  $1,262,260 to expand operations at the former Discover credit card site on Reads Way, New Castle. The company is a provider of custom biological products and services used in research. The company’s scientists work at companies, including Delaware-based Incyte. ABS plans to double office and lab space by 20,000 square feet. Total cost of the project is $4 million. The company has 33 employees and plans to double its head count. Salaries would range from more than $50,000 to about $150,000 a year ago. The company was founded three decades ago.
  • Great Outdoor Cottages – A Strategic Fund grant for $927,600 to establish operations in a new building at the Delaware Coastal Business Park near the airport in Georgetown. The company plans to employ 150. Great Outdoor makes transportable cottages that are placed in recreational  vehicle park and campground businesses. The company has a temporary facility in Millsboro at a Allen-Harim poultry site. The company has orders for 161 fully furnished 400 square -foot cabins with a price tag in the mid 60s that are being built at the Millsboro site. Total cost of their project is $5 million.
  • New B&M Meats Inc. – A processor whose product line includes frozen cheesesteak and chicken cheesesteak meat,  is requesting a Delaware Strategic Fund grant for  $1,110,725 to expand operations. The company also plans to construct a new building along the Wilmington riverfront. Total cost is estimated $18 million. The company’s customers include food service distributors. The company has 98 employees and plans to expand by 79 employees. B&M will employ another 120 new jobs, with a $2 million investment. The parent company started out as a butcher shop in New York City, acquired other comapnies since its founding, and is based in northern New Jersey.
  • Approved $22 million in revenue bonds for Aspira Academy, a charter school in the Newark area. Aspira is expanding its high school at 750 Otts Chapel Road. Such requests are routinely approved since the risk of the bonds is borne by buyers, not the state. The school site is a former W.L. Gore plant that Aspira will purchase. The high school was opened at the site in 2020. Aspira has a separate elementary school east of Newark.

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