photo by: Sylas May/Journal-World

Amarr's facility on Greenway Circle is pictured on Friday, May 8, 2026.

As a step toward its expansion plans, longtime Lawrence garage door manufacturer Amarr wants to own its current facility instead of leasing it, and the city could give it an assist next week with Industrial Revenue Bonds.

Amarr is asking the city to issue up to $35 million of the bonds to help it purchase the 440,000-square-foot facility at 3800 Greenway Circle that it now leases, which it says is necessary if it wants to expand and add up to 75 new jobs in the coming years. The City Commission will consider issuing the bonds at its meeting on Tuesday.

“Ownership is a prerequisite for future expansion and long-term commitment to the community,” a cost-benefit analysis attached to the City Commission’s meeting agenda reads. “Without acquisition, expansion in Lawrence is unlikely.”

According to a memo from city staff, the city wouldn’t take on any liability or debt itself from the bonds. Instead, the bonds are being used purely as “conduit financing.”

Essentially, that is when a government issues bonds and then loans their proceeds to a private borrower for a project. The borrower, not the government, is then responsible for making the debt payments on the bonds.

“The bonds are issued in the City’s name but purchased by the company or a private lender,” a memo from city staff to the City Commission reads. “The City does not assume any debt or financial liability.”

Though Industrial Revenue Bonds are a type of tax exemption, the city says it will not forgo significant tax revenue in the deal. During the 10-year tax-exempt period of the bonds, Amarr would agree to make special payments in place of traditional property taxes. These would begin at 100% of current tax levels, the memo says, and would increase by 2.25% each year, “providing predictable and stable revenue to all taxing jurisdictions.”

That arrangement could provide Amarr a tax break over what it would pay absent the agreement. In essence, the agreement guarantees the company that its property tax bill on the existing building wouldn’t increase by more than 2.25% in any year during the next 10 years. Under the standard property tax system, there are no such caps on increases, but rather property tax bills go up – or down – based on the value the county’s appraiser attaches to the property and the tax rates that local governments set each year.

The city also wants Amarr to meet a couple of deadlines as a condition of receiving the financing. It would require Amarr to purchase the facility by Dec. 31 of this year; to file a valid building permit for an expansion of at least 75,000 square feet by Dec. 31, 2029; and to start construction on said expansion by Dec. 31, 2030.

Amarr’s eventual expansion plans call for $25 million to $35 million in new capital investment and 50 to 75 new jobs in Lawrence, according to the City Commission’s agenda materials. The expansion is not part of the Industrial Revenue Bond request that the commission will consider on Tuesday. The company could seek additional incentives for the actual expansion of the building.

This is not the first time Amarr has sought tax incentives from the city. In 2004, it undertook an expansion that was financed with help from a 10-year, 55% tax abatement, and it also received tax abatements in 1992, 1994 and 1998.

Amarr, which has been in Lawrence for more than 35 years, currently has 753 employees.

In other business, the City Commission will:

• Discuss nominations for a spot on the Lawrence-Douglas County Planning Commission. Two competing nominations have been made for the position: one for Mike Warner and one for Jane Eldredge. The commissioners will discuss which nominee they prefer, and if a consensus is reached, that nomination will be put on the next meeting’s agenda.

• Receive a request from the KU Endowment Association to annex nearly 140 acres at and south of 1593 North 1900 Road, next to Lawrence Regional Airport. The annexation request would then go to the Planning Commission for consideration.

The City Commission meets at 5:45 p.m. Tuesday at City Hall, 6 E. Sixth St.