The company that operates Arhaus furniture stores, currently based in Walton Hills, is scheduled to receive a roughly $800,000 state tax credit for its new headquarters planned in Boston Heights.
The privately owned company, called Homeworks Inc., which does business as Arhaus, late last year said it planned to break ground in spring or early summer on a $43 million headquarters and distribution center at the site of the former Boston Mills Country Club off Hines Hill Road.
Arhaus, known for its high-end furniture, would be the first major business headquarters to call Boston Heights home.
The Ohio Tax Credit Authority — a state body — approved the Job Creation Tax Credit for $802,262 on Monday.
The money would be paid over eight years — if the company creates 162 jobs in Boston Heights, generating an additional $6.6 million in annual payroll, and it retains $14.2 million in existing payroll in Ohio. The company must prove, through reporting to the state’s Development Services Agency, that it has created the jobs.
Company executives have said they thought about moving some of Arhaus’ corporate operations to North Carolina or South Carolina, before local and state officials offered incentives to stay in Ohio.
Approval of the state tax credit follows a Community Reinvestment Area agreement program with Boston Heights that calls for Arhaus to receive an 85 percent break on its property taxes for 15 years for retaining 230 existing jobs and adding 160 jobs by 2019.
Arhaus officials have said the company is planning to move to Boston Heights as early as the end of this year or the first part of 2015. Arhaus plans to keep some operations in Walton Hills through the end of next year.
The company operates 46 stores in 18 states. Eight of the stores are in Ohio, including one on West Market Street in West Akron.
Ohio Job Creation Tax Credits are measured as a percentage of the state income tax withholdings for all new employees hired under the tax credit program. The Ohio Tax Credit Authority on Monday approved Arhaus for a credit of up to 60 percent of income taxes withheld for new jobs. The state can amend tax credit agreements or extend their deadlines, taking into account a company’s finances and the economic climate.
In other Arhaus news, private equity firm Freeman Spogli & Co. of Los Angeles and New York said earlier this month it became a minority investor in the company.
Freeman Spogli & Co. has investments in 13 companies, including the First Watch restaurant chain, appliance retailer hhgregg and kitchen and dinnerware store Sur La Table.
Katie Byard can be reached at 330-996-3781 or kbyard@thebeaconjournal.com.