Michigan-based software company TechSmith will consolidate its operations at a new facility in East Lansing.
TechSmith employs 275 people, working out of five buildings in Ingham County’s Aleidon Township. It plans to consolidate near the former Spartan Village at Michigan State University. When complete, the company expects to add up to 50 more jobs.
East Lansing director of planning, building and development Tom Fehrenbach says the city council made one exception to its tax abatement policy. They gave TechSmith a ten-year exemption rather than the usual two-years. “With TechSmith being a software company that needs to make continual investments in technology and other equipment," he explains, "they requested that the personal property that they continue to invest in for the duration of the ten-year period would continue to be exempted.”
The city council has okayed a ten-year personal property tax abatement to TechSmith, and the Michigan Strategic Fund has approved a quarter-million dollar Jobs Ready Michigan grant for the project. Private investment is expected to approach $15-million .