The Wall Street Journal-20080118-Fidelity Will Open Center in New Mexico- State Offers --36-47 Million In Tax Breaks- Sweeteners- Ten Other Regional Centers
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Fidelity Will Open Center in New Mexico; State Offers $47 Million In Tax Breaks, Sweeteners; Ten Other Regional Centers
Boston -- Fidelity Investments, known for making Boston one of the nation's centers of mutual funds, now plans to put a large imprint on New Mexico.
The company said it plans to lease a new 210,000-square-foot operations center in Albuquerque that will house 1,250 employees, under an agreement in which the state will provide $47 million in tax incentives and other sweeteners.
It isn't the first time Fidelity has ranged afield from Massachusetts. It has made several deals to snare tax benefits from states in return for employment promises.
Fred Mondragon, New Mexico's secretary for economic development, said the $47 million package includes tax breaks, job training for new employees and a $14 million "cash incentive" for the building of infrastructure -- with the incentive costs shared by the state and local governments.
Fidelity's new facility will be part of Mesa del Sol, a 12,900-acre mixed-use facility co-developed by a unit of Cleveland-based Forest City Enterprises Inc.
Fidelity said the positions will mostly be new jobs in human- resources services, its division that handles payroll and other functions for companies. Fidelity spokeswoman Anne Crowley said, "It is largely new recruiting and hiring out in that region that will staff the site."
Fidelity doesn't currently have operations in New Mexico. The company, with 44,000 employees, has 10 regional operations centers across the U.S. -- in Florida, Kentucky, Ohio, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Texas, Rhode Island and Utah.
In 2006, North Carolina awarded Fidelity the largest corporate tax deal in the state's history -- a $54.6 million tax-incentive package based on Fidelity's plan to invest $100 million in a new facility and to bring 2,000 jobs to the state.
