The Rockland Industrial Development Agency unanimously approved an authorizing resolution which affords Avon exemptions on state sales and mortgage taxes and also allows the cosmetics giant to enter into Payment in Lieu of Taxes agreements with Rockland County, the Village of Suffern, Town of Ramapo and the local school district. According to papers filed with the Rockland IDA, Avon will save approximately $3.6 million in state sales taxes due to the exemption granted by the agency.

Avon has obtained all the necessary zone change approvals for the project and now must secure site plan approval from local agencies before construction can begin on the project. The company, which has been in operation in Suffern for 105 years, plans to build a new 225,000-sf research and development facility at its Suffern property. After that three-story facility is completed, the firm will then demolish the existing 375,000-sf Suffern manufacturing plant. For a number of months the company has been transferring manufacturing employees from Suffern to other Avon plants. In fact, Friday, May 23 will be the last day of manufacturing operations at the Suffern site. The new R&D facility, if built, will serve as the company's sole worldwide research and development complex. The firm operates a total of 17 manufacturing plants worldwide.

"If all goes well, we do expect to stay in Suffern," said Dennis Ling, senior VP of Avon Products. The company currently employs approximately 284 workers at the Suffern campus and plans to add another 70 workers in the next 10 years.

Chris Schaffert, PE, director, project engineering finance for Avon Products, said that if the cosmetics firm receives the necessary site plan approvals, construction on the project could begin by the end of August of this year. Construction on the new R&D Center should be completed by the end of 2004, he added, with employees moving into the new building in early 2005.

Eric Dranoff, chairman of the Rockland IDA, praised county, municipal and state officials that helped convince Avon to develop the new R&D facility in Suffern.

"For Avon, who has been in business in Rockland for over 100 years, to be able to continue its historical quest here is a feather in everyone's cap," he said.

The New York State Empire State Development Corp. has offered a grant to the company of $650,000 if it moves forward with the new research and development facility.