Blue Grass Stockyards gets $540,000 in state tax incentives to rebuild in Lexington

Blue Grass Stockyards is receiving $540,000 in tax incentives for an $11.9 million investment in a new stockyards in Lexington.

The incentives were approved Thursday by the Kentucky Economic Development Finance Authority. The incentive package says that 20 jobs will be created, with an average hourly wage target of $20 an hour, including benefits.

Jim Akers, chief operating officer for the stockyards, said last week that the company was being courted by other communities hoping to attract the business, but the proposal submitted to KEDFA lists Lexington as the stockyard location.

“We’re going to make some announcements in the morning, and we’re working really hard to keep this thing in Fayette County,” Akers said Thursday afternoon.

Akers said he plans to attend a news conference Friday morning with Mayor Jim Gray, and the stockyards “have made application in Fayette County for some zoning,” but he wouldn’t say where.

Five of the 10 shareholders in Blue Grass Stockyards own more than 100 acres near the Kentucky Horse Park at the Interstate 75 interchange with Ironworks Pike. The stockyards had considered that site during a relocation effort 10 years ago.

Blue Grass Stockyards has been in business since 1946.

The stockyards on Lisle Industrial Avenue were destroyed Jan. 30 when a construction worker using a circular saw on a metal roof ignited a fire. More than 120 firefighters fought the fire, the largest in Lexington in more than 30 years.

This story was originally published February 25, 2016 at 2:07 PM with the headline "Blue Grass Stockyards gets $540,000 in state tax incentives to rebuild in Lexington."