Mercedes to Build New $16.3 Million Logistics Facility in Vance, Creating 80 Jobs

Tuscaloosa's largest industrial job creator is expanding again and will build a new $16 million logistics facility here which is expected to create 80 well-paying jobs.

Representatives for Mercedes-Benz U.S. International appeared before a crowded meeting of the Tuscaloosa County Economic Development Authority Thursday afternoon seeking a standard tax abatement to incentivize the expansion.

Warren Matthews, a partner at Montgomery's Burr & Forman law firm and MBUSI's legal counsel, detailed the project to the TCEDA board of directors.

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"This is in the city of Vance on Brose Drive. It's a former BLG Logistics facility. There's a landlord who is going to build and hold another building and we're going to lease it," Matthews said.

That landlord is the Racquet Club, which owns the property and leased it to BLG. With managing partner Monfore Group, Inc. and Northport contractor Trax Development, LLC, they will work with MBUSI to build the facility.

The new Automotive Logistics Facility will cost more than $16.3 in capital investment. Construction on the new 122,500 square feet space will begin this month and is expected to wrap up by April 2026, when 80 newly hired workers will move in and work to shore up the automotive juggernaut's supply chain.

MBUSI appeared before the TCEDA seeking to abate an estimated $900,000 in ad valorem tax and another $400,000 in sales or use taxes collected on construction costs, for a total tax abatement incentive package of $1.3 million.

As usual, this abatement does not affect those taxes that would fund education - those are still collected and distributed as intended, and the project is expected to generate more than $6.5 million in new tax revenue over 20 years.

The TCEDA unanimously approved the incentives package Thursday. Mercedes - already the second-largest employer in Tuscaloosa County behind only the University of Alabama - is set to grow even more.

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