The city of Los Angeles’ recent business incentives played a major role in wooing financial software provider BlackLine Systems to relocate within city limits in the San Fernando Valley, its executives say. And the city touts that this is a path that has already been taken by other companies. BlackLine Systems plans to move its headquarters from Calabasas to Warner Center in Woodland Hills in April. It will bring 50 of its 75 employees to the new site and it plans to hire an additional 50 workers within the next year, with 40 of them working at the Woodland Hills location. What largely attracted the company was the city’s business incentives, along with the mayor’s Office of Economic and Business Policy’s outreach efforts, its executives said. In its new home, BlackLine will be able to utilize the Valley’s State Enterprise Zone hiring tax credits; the city’s recently adopted business tax holiday, which will exempt the company from paying the gross receipts tax for three years; and the city’s soon-to-be adopted local preference policy, which will qualify the company for an 8-percent preference on all city contracts. The total savings for BlackLine comes out to about $350,000 over a three-year period, said Mario Spanicciati, the company’s executive vice president of operations. Larger quarters The decision to change locations grew out of the company’s need for a larger space. BlackLine had tripled its staff size over the last two years and also saw its revenues increase by more than 50 percent in 2009 and 2010. Total Planned Hires by BlackLine for 2011: 40 in Woodland Hills, 10 elsewhere Total Savings: $350,000 (over 3 years) Los Angeles Incentives State Enterprise Zone: Tax hiring credit up to $37,400 per hire (over 5 years) Business Tax Holiday: No gross receipts tax (over 3 years) Local Preference Policy: 8-percent preference on city contracts The company started considering moving to Los Angeles after it began talking with the mayor’s Office of Economic and Business Policy late last summer. The company had been notified about the city’s expanding business incentives by its real estate broker, Matthew Heyn, senior vice president of CB Richard Ellis. “The end goal was never focused on leaving Calabasas,” Spanicciati said. “We were solely focused on finding a space that would accommodate our needs today but that would also allow us to grow well into the future. In the end, the economics of the deal that Los Angeles could offer us, including tax incentives, became very important to our decision (and) final outcome.” He added that moving to Woodland Hills also brings BlackLine closer to the heart of the city of Los Angeles, giving the company access to a larger pool of talented technology industry professionals for future hire. Los Angeles First Deputy Mayor Austin Beutner, who is also CEO of the Office of Economic and Business Policy, said BlackLine’s and other companies’ decisions to move to the city show that his office’s more hands-on business outreach approach is working. “We’re starting to see it throughout the city that the efforts we’re making and policy changes are bearing fruit,” he said, adding that his office was formed less than a year ago. “Beyond incentives, a more important long-term message is that we actually want to work with employers and pay attention to their needs. That’s a pretty wholesale change for Los Angeles compared to the past.” Other moves Other companies that were also attracted to the San Fernando Valley for the city’s new and expanded policies include Woodland Hills Auto Gallery, Mission Foods Tortilla Factory, Costco Wholesale Warner Center and companies in the Plaza Pacoima center, which include Costco, Best Buy, Lowe’s Home Improvement and Subway. In one of the examples, Woodland Hills Auto Gallery was considering moving its dealership to Calabasas but decided to sign a 15-year lease at its existing location when they found out the Valley’s enterprise zone was going to be expanded. The dealership, which currently has 20 employees, also decided to invest $12 million in capital improvements and hire an additional 15 workers, according to information provided by the Office of Economic and Business Policy. In the Mission Foods Tortilla Factory example, the economic-focused office brought together multiple city departments and worked with community groups to convince the company to locate in Panorama City. The company had been considering moving its factory to Valencia or Riverside. The company has already created 150 jobs in the San Fernando Valley and plans to create about 400 total as demand increases. The company will be utilizing the enterprise zone’s hiring credits, sales tax equipment purchase credits and DWP rate discount.