The city of Milwaukee will offer Molson Coors Brewing Co. a $2 million incentive package as part of the company’s restructuring plans, which include bringing “hundreds” of jobs to Milwaukee.
In October, Molson Coors announced plans to streamline its operations, which involved moving its corporate headquarters from Denver to Chicago. The structuring plans also will include a shift in functional support roles from several locations around the country to Milwaukee.
In exchange for Miller Coors’ reinvestment in Milwaukee, Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett said today that the city is prepared to offer the company $2 million in developer-funded tax incremental financing.
“(The subsidy is) contingent on adding new workers and keeping workers currently at the brewery’s Milwaukee facilities,” Barrett said at Monday press conference held at the Miller Inn.
As part of the offer, Molson Coors will be required to engage certified small businesses enterprises for at least 25% of the design and construction of the company’s office renovations. Also, at least 40% of labor hours for the renovations must be performed by certified workers under the Residents Preference Program, which requires Molson Coors to meet certain resident hiring goals.
“We want to ensure that the people who live in this community and sometimes the people literally in this neighborhood, are helping to build the future of this city,” Barrett said.
However, even as state and local officials continue to praise Molson Coors’ decision to reinvest in Milwaukee, the exact number of jobs that are coming to Milwaukee is still unknown.
“There will be a gain of jobs in Wisconsin in the hundreds,” said Gavin Hattersley, Molson Coors CEO. “We haven’t finalized that and we’re stilling working through it with our employees.”
A majority of positions moving to Milwaukee would be senior level positions in finance, sales and human resources, Hattersley added. These positions will arrive to Milwaukee in June and will work in two “underutilized buildings” at the former Miller corporate headquarters campus on the city’s west side, Hattersley said.
In Milwaukee, Molson Coors has roughly 1,300 employees, 690 of which work in breweries while the remainder have office positions.
In addition to local tax incentives, the state is in the process of creating an enterprise zone and offering tax credits to Molson Coors. However, Wisconsin Economic Development Corp. CEO Missy Hughes did not disclose details on the enterprise zone, or the number of tax credits the state will offer.
“There’s a whole process now of making sure the tax credits match with the jobs,” Hughes said. “As Gavin solidifies his plans, then we can solidify the tax credits and the enterprise zone.”
