Hoover council OKs tax breaks for dental implant manufacturer in Riverchase

The Hoover City Council tonight agreed to abate about $121,000 worth of taxes for an oral reconstructive device company about to undergo a $2 million expansion in Riverchase.

The company is called BioHorizons Implant Systems and currently is headquartered in two buildings in the Riverchase Office Park. Its two primary products are dental implants for missing teeth and biometrics for the regeneration of bone and gum tissue in the mouth, President and CEO Steven Boggan said.

BioHorizons plans to add about 12,000 square feet of space to the 60,000 square feet it currently has in Riverchase, Boggan said. The expansion should add about 60 jobs in Riverchase over the next four years, he said. The company currently employs about 190 people in Riverchase and 550 globally, he said.

Construction work should begin in January and take about six months, Boggan said.

The Hoover City Council agreed to abate sales and use taxes associated with construction of the new space and non-educational personal property taxes for new machinery and equipment that will be added in the expansion. Those taxes otherwise would have been paid to Hoover, Shelby County and the state of Alabama.

The amount of city taxes abated is about $52,500 in sales and use taxes and $6,747 worth of personal property taxes, said Greg Knighton, Hoover’s economic developer.

However, the city is expected to gain a return of $240,000 over 10 years due to the increased value of the real property, new personal property tax revenue from new equipment, building permit fees and anticipated spending from new employees generating additional sales tax, Knighton said.

Also, the Hoover school system should receive about $60,000 more in real property taxes and almost $25,000 more in personal property taxes than it would if the expansion did not occur, Knighton said.

BioHorizons also is working with the state to receive additional incentives for the expansion, he said.

Councilman Mike Shaw said this is a good deal for Hoover because the expansion will lead to a direct increase in revenues for the city and because the state is participating in the incentive package.

Knighton previously told the council it’s important for the city to help existing industry grow, not just new industries wanting to come into Hoover. Also, it’s possible that BioHorizons might have looked elsewhere to do its expansion if it didn’t get the incentives, he said.

Boggan said the company also has a manufacturing facility in California. Products made at the two facilities are sold in more than 70 countries, but two-thirds of their sales are in the United States, he said. BioHorizons has six foreign subsidiaries and more than 50 global distributors, he said.

The products are sold to oral surgeons, periodontists and general dentists, he said.

Boggan, who lives in Greystone, said he has been CEO of the company for 18 years, and the company has been headquartered in Hoover for 11 years.

In other business tonight, the council:

• Approved an agreement for the city of Hoover’s fleet maintenance crew to start performing maintenance and repair work on vehicles owned by the city of Pelham.
• Gave approval for Bob Mathews to use property at 3201 Lorna Road for a violin shop called Village Violins, offering private music lessons and sales and rentals of violins, violas and cellos.
• Gave approval for Signature Homes to build a pool, clubhouse, pavilion and parking lot in the new Green Trails section of the Lake Wilborn subdivision in Trace Crossings.
• Withdrew a proposed ordinance that would have created new zoning regulations regarding where pawn shops, body art establishments, short-term loan shops and vape and/or tobacco stores could be located.
• Agreed to pay to have high weeds and/or grass cut at 2272 Vanessa Drive and have the property owner reimburse the city for the work.
• Approved a request to allow the sale of wine at Wasabi Juans for consumption on and off the premises at 5037 U.S. 280, Suite 101.

Council members also heard from a resident, Julie Conrady, who was concerned about Hoover police officers not wearing their names on their uniforms. Councilman Casey Middlebrooks said officers working special duty to manage protesters were removing their names as a safety measure for themselves. The officers are supposed to provide their badge numbers if asked, he said.

Another resident, Ali Massoud, told the council he was disturbed by the insensitive comments he has seen coming from some Hoover residents concerning the people protesting the police shooting of 21-year-old Emantic “E.J.” Bradford Jr. of Hueytown.

Massoud said he hopes council members will help work toward some measurable actions to de-escalate the tension that has gripped the city over the shooting and help solve the crisis.

This article was updated at 11:29 p.m. to clarify additional reasons for the $240,000 return on the city's investment.