City awards 10-year deal for Cedar Point building

April 15, 2008

By Jennifer Grathwol, The Sandusky Register

A city tax abatement has laid the foundation for Cedar Fair’s new corporate headquarters at Cedar Point.

Cedar Fair will soon break ground on the three-story building, said Robert Decker, corporate vice president of planning and design. “This is our commitment to staying in Sandusky,” Decker said.

Sandusky City Commissioners voted unanimously Monday night to grant the tax abatement.
 

Provided illustration Cedar Fair Entertainment Co. plans to build this $3.25 million headquarters at its flagship amusement park, Cedar Point, in Sandusky.

“We’re going to file permits in the morning,” Decker said.

The $3.25 million project is expected to be completed by November.

The new headquarters will encompass nearly 20,000 square feet and will house 85-90 employees in the company’s information technology, accounting, corporate administration and finance departments.

The existing administrative jobs that will stay on the property because of the new headquarters account for more than $11 million of the company’s payroll. Cedar Fair’s annual payroll will increase by more than $825,250 with the addition of new employees.

“It’s a big addition to our tax base,” commission president Dennis Murray Jr. said at Monday night’s meeting.

Cedar Fair Entertainment Company is the only Erie County company traded on the New York Stock Exchange, so keeping its headquarters here is a big deal, Murray added.

As part of the agreement for the 10-year tax abatement, Cedar Fair will provide two annual scholarships of $5,000 each to Sandusky High School students.

Also in the zone enterprise agreement approved by the commissioners is a clause permitting the city to cancel the tax abatement if the company moves its headquarters to another location outside the corporate limits of Sandusky.

Decker said that won’t be an issue — his favorite part of the entire project is its location.

“Our management philosophy is to be in the park,” he explained.

The headquarters building will be the new face of the Fortune 500 company.

Decker said it will let visitors know Cedar Point is a historic and important landmark, while at the same time proclaiming Cedar Fair is a company looking toward the future.

“The abatement will go a long way,” Decker said.