Rivian will get $16 million in state incentives plus more local tax breaks to help build a new supplier park just west of the electric automaker’s manufacturing plant in Normal, officials said Monday. The project is expected to fortify Rivian’s supply chain and create “hundreds of new jobs” once suppliers move in.
Rivian has been working to develop the property west of Rivian Motorway for years. Monday’s announcement adds new details to the company’s plans, including the incentives offered.
“We are excited to see this supplier park coming together so quickly,” Rivian Founder and CEO RJ Scaringe said in a statement. “This will be a key enabler to increasing production at the plant in 2026 when we start to build R2 in addition to R1 and our commercial vans. We are grateful to Gov. Pritzker and the state’s partnership, and are looking forward to welcoming suppliers at the new space.”
Rivian says it will invest $120 million to build the 1.2 million-square-foot supplier park, which will allow the company to co-locate suppliers that produce component parts for Rivian vehicles, with the parts transported across Rivian Motorway to the company’s main facility.
In exchange, Rivian will get $16 million in total state incentives. The $16 million package includes a $5 million tax break from the Reimagining Energy and Vehicles (REV Illinois) program over the course of 20 years. The rest primarily consists of capital grant support, officials said.
Rivian will also get property tax breaks because the supplier park is located in the local Enterprise Zone and meets other criteria. The amount is not yet known. Once construction is done and the property is re-assessed, Rivian will get a 100% property tax abatement for any increased amount on its tax bill – the “increment” – as a result of its investment. That will last for five years; after that, local taxing bodies will start getting the full tax revenue.
As for why incentives were offered, Bloomington-Normal Economic Development Council President and CEO Patrick Hoban said “we’re in heavy competition with other states.”
“A supplier park can be put as close as Indiana, which has been very aggressive with its incentive packages. And also, with the announcement of what [Rivian was] looking to do in Georgia, in theory it could go anywhere between here and Georgia. And other states are more aggressive – some even offering cash upfront – compared to what the State of Illinois does traditionally by offering abatements and tax credits,” Hoban said.
The supplier park has been in the works for years – “since Rivian began here,” Hoban said.
“It was always a question everybody was constantly asking. ‘We have the direct jobs at Rivian. When are we going to start seeing some of those indirect jobs of the suppliers?’ It was always a concept,” he said.
The Town of Normal has been working with Rivian on the plan too. In February, the town approved a $3 million reimbursement for Rivian to run sewer infrastructure across Rivian Motorway for the project. The town was going to run the sewer itself, only to get delayed by rising costs that neared $4 million.
This is only the latest Rivian investment in Normal anchored by incentives offered by local or state governments. Just last year, Gov. JB Pritzker was in Normal to announce $827 million in state tax breaks and other incentives over the next 30 years, to help spark production of a new model here.
“In Illinois, we aren’t just making electric vehicles: we are creating an entire ecosystem – attracting investments, bolstering our workforce, and strengthening the EV manufacturing supply chain,” Pritzker said in Monday’s statement. “Rivian’s investment will attract suppliers from across the globe to invest in Illinois and continue to create good-paying jobs, providing Illinois with the competitive edge to thrive in the clean energy economy.”
Normal Mayor Chris Koos said the supplier park project shows Rivian is a “growing and stable entity in our community,” contrary to persistent questions about the future of EVs and even Rivian itself.
“The fact that Rivian has the capital and the support to continue to expand is the bigger story,” he said.
Once those hundreds of new jobs come, Koos acknowledged that could put added pressure on Bloomington-Normal’s already limited housing supply. But he stressed the housing shortage is not unique to Bloomington-Normal. It's a national problem.
“It could be an issue. But it’s not the primary issue [driving the housing shortage],” Koos said. “The primary issue is the cost of materials, the workforce issues, the cost of financing. Those are the issues that we as a city in the United States have to help find a solution for.”
Rivian employs around 8,000 people in Normal. It's McLean County's second-largest employer, behind only State Farm.
