photo by: Sylas May/Journal-World

Mike Bernholtz, plant manager for Amarr's Lawrence facility, speaks to the Lawrence City Commission on Tuesday, May 12, 2026.

One of Lawrence’s longtime manufacturers, garage door company Amarr, will be getting some help from the city to purchase its building and keep operating in Lawrence.

At its meeting on Tuesday, the Lawrence City Commission voted 4-0, with Commissioner Amber Sellers absent, to issue up to $35 million of Industrial Revenue Bonds to help Amarr purchase the facility at 3800 Greenway Circle that it now leases. Amarr, which has been in Lawrence for 35 years, said it needed to buy the building in order to stay here and eventually expand with up to 75 new jobs.

“This is our home,” Mike Bernholtz, Amarr’s plant manager, told the commission on Tuesday. But he also said the company couldn’t invest in growing its operations if it didn’t own its plant. “We’re not going to invest a lot of money into a structure we do not own.”

The city won’t take on any liability or be responsible for paying the debt on the Industrial Revenue Bonds, said Susie Carson, the city’s economic development director. Instead, the bonds are just being used as a “conduit financing” mechanism. Basically, that’s when a government issues the 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 do not constitute debt or financial obligation for the city itself,” Carson told commissioners.

During the 10-year tax-exempt period of the bonds, Amarr will also 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.

As the Journal-World reported, this arrangement could provide Amarr a tax break over what it would otherwise pay. It basically guarantees the company that its property tax bill on the building wouldn’t increase by more than 2.25% in any year during the next 10 years. Normally, property tax bills don’t work like that; they 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.

Commissioner Kristine Polian said it was important for the public to understand that Amarr’s property tax bills wouldn’t be going away.

“We’re not giving away the farm here; they’re still paying property tax,” Polian said.

The city’s vote on Tuesday wasn’t about Amarr’s proposed expansion – just about the purchase of the building – but the commissioners said they looked forward to Amarr’s growth in the future.

Amarr’s eventual expansion plans call for $25 million to $35 million in new capital investment and 50 to 75 new jobs in Lawrence; it currently employs more than 700 people.

The company could later seek additional city incentives for the expansion. But the agreement approved Tuesday will require Amarr to take steps toward that project within a few years. By the end of 2029, the company will be required to file a valid building permit for an addition of at least 75,000 square feet, and by the end of 2030 it will have to start construction on that expansion.

A former Amarr employee spoke to the commission on Tuesday and said the expansion plans were welcome. “The building definitely needed help and needed expansion, in my opinion,” she said.

The commissioners also praised Amarr for investing in the city and creating quality jobs.Before the vote, Mayor Brad Finkeldei said he appreciated Amarr “and all you do in the community.”

“I certainly support anything we can do to help keep you here long-term and hopefully help you expand,” he said.