Payments Deferred For Berlin Business Relocation

BERLIN — Berlin’s policy of allowing EDU payments to be spread out over five years was taken advantage of again this week by DaVita Healthcare Partners for their re-location from Franklin Avenue to N. Main Street.

DaVita’s is currently located at 314 Franklin Ave. but the office plans on moving to 9952 N. Main Street by December. The move will include an expansion and the town is happy to witness that North Main Street is proving attractive to local businesses.

“We’re pleased to see this investment being made here because, I don’t know if you’re aware in December 2012 … we extended our sewer and water to Route 50 and beyond with the anticipation that the time had come for development out that way,” Mayor Gee Williams told DaVita representatives.

The re-location will expand DaVita both in terms of space and in the number of EDUs it will need.

“This is a slight expansion so our clinic is going to grow by a slight amount of chairs,” said Chuck Cooper, design manager for DaVita.

The EDUs needed by DaVita will increase from the 20 currently used at the Franklin Ave. location to 25. The total cost will be $417,151. But similar to graces that the council has allowed in the past, DaVita will only have to pay 10 percent of the total cost upfront and then make monthly payments for 60 months, or five years.

The EDU deferral has been a popular option for businesses looking to set up in Berlin. Businesses like the planned Berlin Activities Depot and Route 50 Royal Farms both applied for and were granted deferrals, the former last year and the later this summer.

While the town does have to deal with a stretched out payment period, the delay doesn’t jeopardize Berlin’s finances and the long-term benefit of economic growth outweighs any short-term payment deferral, according to Williams.

“That’s something that we started a few years ago simply because we realized that when you make an investment of this nature there’s a lot of money going out,” he told Cooper. “Our obligation is to meet our indebtedness to our bonds and this allows us to do that without putting any hardship on anyone.”

Williams was satisfied to see Berlin’s healthcare industry growing. DaVita is a care center that includes peritoneal dialysis and hemodialysis. Having the center move out of Franklin Ave. would have been a knock for the Berlin, said Williams, if not for the fact that they are re-locating within town limits.

The council approved of the EDU sale and payment method.