Plano makes economic deal with Investor’s Business Daily parent company

by Jessica Rush of Star Local News

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O'Neil Digital Solutions must use Plano hotels or facilities for business activities, if possible.

An incentive agreement with a large company will add up to 250 jobs in the city and property improvements in the largest building in the Research Technology District.

On Monday night, the Plano City Council unanimously approved a tax abatement and economic development incentive agreement with O'Neil Digital Solutions, which consists of three companies: William O'Neil and Company, O'Neil Data Systems, and Investor's Business Daily.

William J. O'Neil, a seasoned investor, entrepreneur and bestselling author of How to Make Money in Stocks, founded William O'Neil and Company in 1963 as a research organization for institutional investment firms. Ten years later, he expanded his business to include O'Neil Data Systems, which produces data based publishing and now works primarily within the health care industry. O'Neil also founded Investor's Business Daily, a national financial newspaper.

O'Neil Digital Solutions is based out of California with employees in New York, Boston, Chicago, London, and soon to be Plano. President Jim Lucanish has been with the company for 31 years and recently relocated to the area.

"We believe this is going to be a great expansion for us," he said. "For O'Neil Digital Solutions, being centrally located in the country is extremely important to all of our health care clients. They like the distribution from the center of the country for the speed they can get their products."

In the agreement, O'Neil must use Plano hotels or facilities for business activities, if possible, and Investor's Business Daily is required to place "printed in Plano, Texas" on the mast head of its newspaper.

David Ellis, who helped organize the deal on behalf of Plano, said there is an intangible value of putting the Plano name in front of thousands of readers whose average household income is around $281,000.

"It's like the icing on the three-tiered cake," he said.

Most of the jobs will be new positions created within the company.

"Anytime you have a manufacturer moving in from out of state it translates into new jobs and money flowing into our local economy," Ellis said. "Also, it's an owner-occupied building, so they'll be sticking around."

The council approved a tax abatement for O'Neil on an 11.4 acre tract in Plano Tech Center II, 3100 E. Plano Parkway. The city agrees to tax only 50 percent of the business personal property and real property for the next 10 years, starting January 1.

The Plano Economic Development Board offered O'Neil Digital Solutions a Chapter 380 grant in the amount of $187,500. In exchange, Investor's Business Daily and O'Neil Data Systems will transfer or create up to at least 96 full-time positions by December 31, 2013. They have the option of adding an additional 70 jobs by the end of 2014 and an additional 84 jobs by the end of 2015 to receive the full amount of the grant.

Combined, the companies must lease 218,000 square feet of office and warehouse space as of September 30 and possess an estimated $8.5 million in business personal property and $2.5 million in real property by the end of the year.

Business property includes equipment owned by the company such as computers or servers. Real property could be things such as electrical and plumbing equipment, air conditioning, or lighting, for example.

According to the contract, the tenants will also add a security system, guard shack, electric infrastructure and other improvements with an assessed taxable value of at least $4.5 million by the end of 2014. Altogether, the total project is estimated at about $15.5 million.

The building was previously occupied by Telect Inc., a manufacturer of telecommunication equipment, which outgrew its space. They opted to relocate to 1801 10th St. in Plano.

"Any other community would be green with envy," Ellis said. "We're very fortunate to have the amount of growth we've had."

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