DataCard One Step Closer to Relocating to Shakopee

The Shakopee City Council and the Scott County Board approved the economic development tax abatements that DataCard Corporation requested. The city and county held a joint meeting and public hearing on the issue on Monday evening.

DataCard is currently based in Minnetonka, but is looking to relocate to a facility in Shakopee. The company will also relocate its current workforce of 680 positions. These are mostly well-paid positions with an average salary of over $95,000 per employee.

DataCard anticipates a total cost of about $30 million on acquiring the property, construction and renovation, and furniture, fixtures and equipment. The cost puts the company 50 percent over budget, which prompted the request for the tax abatement of $600,000 over 11 years.

Construction on the property would begin in October of this year and finish in September 2014. In that period, some employees currently working at DataCard may choose to find positions elsewhere, said Jeff Smolinski, senior vice president of operations at DataCard. He expects that Shakopee will have a pool of individuals who would qualify for the resulting open positions. 

Smolinski added that the company would likely add 120 jobs or more over the next three to five years.

The Shakopee City Council approved the request 4 to 1. Councilor Matt Lehman gave the dissenting vote. The Scott County Board approved the request unanimously. 

Scott County Administrator Gary Shelton recommended that the board also approve in the future an incentive of $110,000 for use of the county's fiber network. The details will be discussed at a later date.

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