The Textron Company will be getting a new neighbor soon at the DISA site in downtown Slidell.

Tuesday night, the Slidell City Council unanimously voted to let Mayor Ben Morris sign a lease with the St. Tammany Economic Development Foundation and contractors Meyer McMath LLC to build a 20,000-square-foot building at the former DISA site on Gause Boulevard. The new structure would be close to the building that Textron currently leases from the city. The best thing about the deal is the city will not have to put out any money for the building and will collect all the rent. Plus Slidell will own the building in 40 years.

The STEDF will pay for the building, which is estimated to cost $3.6 million. The city will also sign a sublease with Meyer McMath LLC who will then rent the building to the geospatial company 3001 Inc. 3001 Inc. uses high-tech photography and satellite imaging to create high-resolution maps and geographical information systems. Their clients include the Department of Defense, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, various cities around the country, and even Orleans Parish. Recently, maps created by 3001 Inc. were used by FEMA to map out new flood zones in St. Tammany Parish. The company currently has a small office on Robert Boulevard, plus an office at the Stennis Space Center in Mississippi.

The lease between 3001 Inc. and Meyer McMath LLC is for 20 years with four 5-year lease options, which would extend the lease another 20 years. In 40 years, Slidell would take possession of the building.

Slidell will also get all the rent from the tenants. Councilman Joe Fraught, who helped negotiate the lease, said the first year’s rent would be $100,000 with increases of no less than 3 percent and not more than 10 percent in the ensuing years of the lease. Fraught estimated that by the end of the first 20 years, the city would collect $2.48 million and that would increase to $4.36 million in during the second 20 years of the lease.

Besides the new revenue source, Slidell will also increase their job market. STEDF executive director Brenda Reine-Bertus told the council Tuesday night 3001 Inc. will bring with it a payroll of $3.5 million.

“It will keep the 18 employees already here, and bring in another 50 jobs,” Reine-Bertus said. “This is a well-known company. 3001 Inc. will be a catalyst for more companies, and a seed for the UNO Tech Park.”

Not all people at the council meeting expressed support for the plan. Resident Buddy Lloyd was concerned that the council was rushing the deal and that the public did not know about it until the last minute. Lloyd was also concerned about how the new structure would affect the city’s master plan. He suggested the council table the issue and discuss it some more.

“This will affect us for the next 40 years,” Lloyd said.

Fraught said the council had been going over the leases for the past two months, and the final draft came in at the last minute because Hurricanes Gustav and Ike delayed negotiations. Morris and Reine-Bertus both said the city and the STEDF have been working on the deal for several years.

Nancy McGee, 3001 Inc. vice-president of Intel Defense Solutions said in an e-mail the company has been looking for a building site in St. Tammany Parish for several years and hope to move into the new building sometime in late 2009.

Fraught reminded citizens the lease would provide the city with a much needed revenue stream.

“We can’t pass new taxes,” Fraught said. “Our expenses are increasing, and we need more revenue sources.”

Fraught also said the plans for the new building would have to pass muster with the Planning and Zoning Commission, and the architecture would match the other buildings on the DISA site. He added the council had to act fast because 3001 Inc. was under a deadline to get into a new building.

He did not say what that deadline was.