More tax incentives are granted for new Fishtech headquarters in south KC

A Missouri Works tax incentive worth slightly more than $1 million was announced Friday for Fishtech Labs LLC, a new smart-home technology company that is building offices in Martin City.

The company will be eligible to retain its state withholding tax on new jobs for five years, provided it meets the promised creation of 43 jobs within two years, the state said.

In previous filings, Fishtech said it expected to hire 48 high-tech workers with an average salary of $119,000.

Fishtech, the newest startup by Gary Fish, who previously founded FishNet Security and FireMon, is building its $10.2 million headquarters at 13333 Holmes.

That south Kansas City area qualified as a low-income, or economically distressed, Enhanced Enterprize Zone 2 under state policies. The designation automatically qualified the Fishtech development for a 50 percent, 10-year property tax abatement, but a majority of the EEZ board members last fall granted the Fishtech property a 100 percent property tax abatement for 14 years.

The bigger property tax abatement, worth about $2 million, was awarded over some objections based on the job creation promise and the fact that the property had been on the market for about a decade without attracting a buyer.

The two-story Fishtech building, designed by BRR Architecture, is being built by A.L. Huber General Contractor. The new offices will include a showroom and executive briefing center “to showcase next-generation cloud security solutions,” according to a statement issued by Gov. Jay Nixon.

This story was originally published March 25, 2016 at 5:07 PM with the headline "More tax incentives are granted for new Fishtech headquarters in south KC."