Baxter Plans To Finalize Portobello Deal By August

Baxter city officials are expecting to finalize its deal with ceramic tile company Portobello by the beginning of August.

Mayor John Martin said the city is working to annex property and secure the land for development.

“The closing of the property should probably be the week of [July] 22, if everything goes well,” Martin said. “Tonight in our planning board, we made motions to go ahead and do the zoning change of one property and annex one parcel.”

The new Portobello headquarters will be located at the old race track as the city looks to annex an adjacent property for the development.

Martin said several residents have asked about Portobello’s status over the past few weeks.

“It’ a big process to finalize a project of this magnitude. We’ve got a meeting… with the Industrial Board. We’ll more or less ratify everything with that. I know the county and myself and the industrial board will be there and we’ll get all of that finalized.”

Martin said the Industrial Development Board will meet July 15. He expects project details to be wrapped-up prior to the next Baxter City Council meeting Aug. 1.

Brazil-based Portobello announced last December that it would open its U.S. headquarters in Baxter.