JPMorgan Chase eyeing operations center in Ruston

Finance firm JPMorgan Chase is planning to build a new 50,000 square-foot operations center in Ruston — if local boards grant the company tax breaks to do so.

According to a resolution passed by the Lincoln Parish Police Jury at a special called meeting Thursday morning, the project would be a minimum $30 million investment and would create 200 full-time jobs when completed, with an average wage of $50,000.

The building would be located on the North Frontage Road of Interstate 20 in Ruston.

Representatives from JPMorgan Chase and the North Louisiana Economic Partnership said the project, codenamed “Project Middle,” has been in the works for more than four years and is contingent on approval of a tax incentive package that includes property and sales tax abatements.

Officials didn’t get more specific on the location of the planned facility, saying the company is still “doing some due diligence” on that front.

The police jury unanimously approved its share of the incentive plan, and the school board will also convene this morning to consider doing the same. Ruston’s Board of Aldermen meets Monday.

The jury agreed to a 15-year sliding property tax abatement based on the number of jobs created and maintained by the project, ranging from 25% for 0-24 jobs up to 75% for 151-200 jobs.

The jury will also forego 50% of all sales and use tax on construction material, construction equipment and computer equipment on the project for five years.

The Ruston center will be a warehouse-style building with a front office operations center, said Tania Hilburn, a JPMorgan Chase executive who will be the site lead at the location if it comes to fruition. 

A “very large part” of the building will be a vault.

As a Simsboro native, Hilburn said she is excited Lincoln Parish has the chance to be the site of an operations center for such a large corporation.

“We are the only rural hub (for the company),” she said. “If you think about JPMorgan Chase, you think about New York… that’s a really great thing to be on the list of."