A company that might have left Sarasota will instead relocate to a larger facility after help from the Economic Development Corporation of Sarasota County and an incentive package from the County Commission.
Harmar Mobility LLC, a manufacturer of wheelchair and stair lifts for people with mobility challenges, plans to expand into a new manufacturing facility in northern Sarasota County and hire an additional 43 people at an average salary of $58,000.
Sarasota’s County Commission on Tuesday approved a grant of $129,000 from the economic development fund to be paid over 10 years and a 10-year exemption from property taxes associated with the increase in value the company plans to make on the facility.
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The company’s executives had considered moving the business from their 47th Street location to another site in Florida or possibly relocating to Missouri when sales growth led to the need for expansion.
The EDC began working with Harmar in January 2020 with permitting the expansion project and workforce development, particularly locating skilled welders, according to an EDC news release.
“We are thrilled to be able to stay in Sarasota and ended up only moving roughly a mile away from our previous location,” Steve Dawson, Harmar CEO, said in the news release. “We have been rapidly expanding and the EDC has been very helpful in supporting our growth,”
Lisa Krouse, EDC president and CEO, said in the news release that she was pleased the EDC could play a role in keeping a company like Harmar local.
“They were already here, growing, and providing good-paying jobs with benefits,” she said. “It would have a loss to our community for them to go elsewhere.”
Krouse took over as the chief executive at the EDC in the beginning of August after the Sarasota County Commission voted in June to phase out the funding sources available to the the organization in its current configuration over a three-year timeframe.
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