By Zach Spicer
Guardian Bikes keeps pedaling upward.
Going from 85 employees in early 2024 to more than 200 at the start of this year, the Seymour bicycle company continues to make an impact on the local economy.
Not only has it exceeded employment expectations, salaries have cycled up, too.
Each year the Seymour Redevelopment Commission reviews the company’s numbers and the targets are hit, there’s a 25% forgiveness of the four-year $100,000 ECLIPSE loan received at the beginning of operations in 2022 at 2230 D Ave. East in the Freeman Field Industrial Park.
During the Jan. 27 meeting, Jim Plump, executive director of Jackson County Industrial Development Corp., spoke on behalf of the company while asking for forgiveness of the second year of the loan. That was approved 4-0 with President Mark Dennis and John Kelley absent.
Lucas Hougland, quality manager for Guardian Bikes, attended the meeting.
When the company moved to Seymour three years ago, the plan was to have one employee make $150,000 per year, five make $100,000, nine make $50,000 and 30 make $40,000.
The numbers shared during the recent meeting show one employee projected to have a salary of $150,000, but there actually are two who make more than $200,000, and both live in Jackson County.
Also, three were projected to make $100,000, but there are 15 at more than $120,000, including three who live in the county.
There were nine projected to have a salary of $50,000; however, there are 40, 14 of whom live in Jackson County.
Plus, there were 30 expected to make $40,000, but there are 60, including 36 living in the county.
Of Guardian’s total employment, 110 are under $40,000 with 100 of them living in the county.
“They have hit their projected targets,” Plump told the commission.
Guardian Bikes is the third company to benefit from ECLIPSE, which stands for Economic Loan Incentive Program-Seymour. The others were Pet Supplies Plus in 2012 and Trellis Earth in 2014.
The JCIDC-developed program provides a cash loan to help offset startup costs based on job creation. Loan proceeds come from tax increment finance or economic development income tax funds, and the amount of the loan is tied directly to the number of new jobs (permanent full-time positions) and wages.
Existing and new industrial companies are eligible to apply, provided the applicant creates at least 25 new jobs. An applicant is eligible to apply for a loan based on the number of employees who live in Jackson County.
The program is designed as a forgivable loan. Each year, the company submits a compliance form to the redevelopment commission and common council to show jobs created, wages and residency of employees.
Based on compliance, the city boards approve loan forgiveness for that year. If not in compliance, the company could be required to make that year’s loan payment. The interest rate would be determined per project as part of the terms.
Guardian Bikes launched at the Interbike trade show in Las Vegas, Nevada, in September 2015. Friends Brian Riley and Kyle Jansen appeared on the television show “Shark Tank” and received $500,000 from Mark Cuban for a 15% share in the company.
It started in Irvine, California, but moved to Austin, Texas, in the spring of 2020 and then Seymour two years later.
Originally, the company sold children’s bicycles, but it’s now making adult bicycles, too.
It’s also preparing to make history with the first high-volume frame manufacturing plant landing back in the United States this year.
Along with Guardian’s first location in Seymour, the company now occupies space in multiple buildings at Freeman Field, including 845 A Ave. East.
