Stens Corporation reaches agreement with Kimball on building

Jim O’neal, WITZ News Director, contributed to this report.

Stens Corporation in Jasper has reached a verbal agreement with Kimball International on the purchase of the Kimball property on Power Drive on Jasper’s south side.

The company sold its current building and with a deadline of June 2012 was in the process of finding a new location for its corporate headquarters. The company was possibly moving from the area before the recently adopted tax abatement program was established in Jasper. Stens applied for tax abatement under the new program for a location in Jasper they were considering, but the company was still looking at a location south of Louisville.

In November Stens and Indiana Furniture became the first two companies approved for tax abatements through the new program but Stens had still not reached an agreement on the new building listed in the abatement.

Late last week an e-mail was sent out stating an agreement had been reached in regards to the property. While the property on Power Drive was reportedly not perfect for Stens, it increases their square footage enough to make the location suitable for the move. In the e-mail Stens CEO, Peter Ariens says that they will have to perform modifications to the Power Drive location to make the facility work the best for the company.

The Stens expansion will bring approximately 98 job to the area.