The Economic Development Authority has the western portion of the Gateway site under contract to OPUS. The city council rezoned the property to Business Park. The city has been working with OPUS on attracting higher wage jobs and corporate headquarters to the Gateway site.  Similar to KEB, the company that would locate here has all parts of the company under one roof.

Cherne Industries, Inc. a wholly-owned part of Oatey, is considering relocating its offices, R&D, manufacturing and warehousing and distribution into a new, 130,000 square foot building to be constructed on the property currently owned by the Shakopee EDA and under contract to OPUS for development.  OPUS will also be constructing a spec building to the north that will not be part of the subsidy.  The property is currently tax exempt.

The design of the building would meet the design guidelines that have been adopted by the city council including integral color concrete panels and large windows facing Vierling.  The other parts of the building would have clerestory windows to allow light into the research & development and manufacturing areas.

Since 1916, the parent company, Oatey, has provided reliable, high-quality products for the residential and commercial plumbing industries. Today, Oatey operates a comprehensive manufacturing and distribution network to supply more than 6,000 products for professional builders, contractors, engineers and do-it-yourself consumers around the world. They acquired Cherne Industries in 1990.

Cherne is the recognized world leader in pipe plug and testing equipment manufacturing. In 1998, Cherne demonstrated its commitment to quality and continuous improvement by achieving ISO 9001 registration and is the only domestic pipe plug manufacturer to achieve this certification. Cherne has been serving the plumbing and underground industries for over 60 years and is dedicated to providing customers with unparalleled product quality in addition to the highest level of customer service.

Kennedy & Graven has prepared a Contract for Private Development that provides Cherne a tax abatement of the city's portion of the property taxes for a period of nine years.  The value of this abatement over the nine years shall

not exceed $459,494.  During the period of the abatement, the owners may not appeal the property tax valuation on the building. The company will be required to annually report job and wages to the city for compliance.

OPUS/Cherne will invest at least $11,740,000 in increased market value of the property, relocate and preserve 115 full-time equivalent jobs and create an additional 50 new jobs in the facility over the next five years. 

Excluding executive payments, exclusive of benefits, the average wage of Cherne jobs is above $20 per hour.

The Contract will not be recorded until OPUS closes on the property with the EDA.  OPUS will also be replatting the property to create a separate lot for the Cherne property and the speculative office building.  As part of that process, the city will also abandon a portion of the right of way for the roundabout and create a sidewalk easement so that OPUS can maintain the entrances to its property and also create a more rectangular speculative building.

The city has also retained Terracon to complete soil vapor testing on the existing EDA-owned outlot that was the former site of Gopher State Trucking.  The goal, at a minimum, would be to provide additional landscaping on this site and possible city gateway sign.