Business owned by Columbia city councilman seeks county tax break for headquarters project
Colite Technologies, a spin-off of Columbia City Councilman Peter Brown’s business Colite International, is asking for a tax break from Richland County in exchange for investing $2.5 million into a new headquarters and creating 75 new full-time jobs.
Colite Technologies, which makes solar panels and off-grid lighting for businesses, is redeveloping the former Nuttall Tire shop at 2405 Millwood Ave., and turning it into an office and warehouse space.
In exchange for investing $2.5 million in the project and creating 75 new jobs, the company is asking for a six-year, 35% tax break from the county.
Richland County Council unanimously approved the request Tuesday, and it will need two more votes before being final.
Brown, who represents the northeast portion of Columbia on City Council, is an owner of the solar panel company, but he clarified he is not one of the company’s operators. Brown said he has not been part of any of the discussions about the tax credits to avoid a conflict of interest.
Colite Technologies has been in business for more than five years and has operated out of the Carolina Research Park area west of the Interstate 77 interchange in northeast Columbia, where Colite International, which makes commercial signs, also operates.
But now the solar company has grown too large and needs more space, its CEO Kevin O’Hara said. O’Hara said the plan is to grow the company for another five years and then look to sell it.
Nuttall Tire operated out of the Millwood Avenue site for more than two decades before announcing in 2020 that the company would relocate to a larger facility on Two Notch Road. The Millwood Avenue property, which is in a prime location at a major Columbia intersection, had been vacant until Colite purchased it in November.
O’Hara said he believes his company will be able to relocate to the site by late summer or early fall.
