Lexington Town Meeting approves more funding for Estabrook School, tax break for Vista Print

By Brock Parker, Town Correspondent

Lexington Town Meeting approved additional funding to build a new Estabrook Elementary School Monday and made its pitch to encourage Vistaprint, Inc. to stay in Lexington and expand.

Town Meeting members also approved $1.5 million in road, sidewalk and drainage improvements at Grove Street and Robinson Road around the new Estabrook School.

That amount was separate from $2.6 million in additional funding Town Meeting approved for the construction of the new Estabrook School. The rising cost of steel and construction costs have pushed the price tag over the $40 million estimate by the town in the spring.

The tax incentive finance agreement approved for Vistaprint would provide the company tax relief of more than $1.2 million over a 13-year period if it expands into a new building proposed on Hayden Avenue. The company is an online supplier of graphic design services and customized print products that is headquartered in Paris. But the company runs its United States operations out of Two Ledgemont Center at 95 Hayden Avenue.

Town Manager Carl Valente said that if Vistaprint is convinced to stay and expand in Lexington, it could hasten the development of a Three Ledgemont Center, which would be about 160,000 square feet.

The new building is expected to generate about $600,000 a year in property taxes, but Valente said that if Vistaprint does not seek to expand into the space it could take two additional years before the building is constructed.

If Vistaprint does expand into the new space, Valente said construction would begin in the first quarter of 2013 and be completed two years later.

The company is also looking at expanding in another community, and Michael Greiner, the chief accounting officer for Vistaprint, said the amount of tax relief is not enough for the company to commit to stay in Lexington. But Greiner said the tax relief does add a reason for the company to expand Lexington.