Capital One Hiring Hundreds

The company received property tax relief to develop a home for its mortgage-lending unit in Kansas — where it will create more than 700 new jobs.

The Overland Park City Council approved Thursday a 10-year property tax abatement worth $5.3 million to secure the headquarters for Capital One Home Loans, said city spokeswoman Kristy Stallings.

The “quality of the company, quality of the jobs, the fact that Capital One Home Loans was started in Overland Park,” and the city’s wanting to retain it there, were all reasons contributing to the approval of the abatement, Stallings said.

Capital One Home Loans was created this February when it acquired Overland Park-based eSmartloan, a leading online originator of home equity loans and mortgages, Capital One said.

The new home will be a $41 million office building that will house about 900 Capital One employees, according to the city’s announcement.

The mortgage-lending unit currently employs 150 associates, including loan officers and support-funding employees, and plans to add 750 associates by 2008, Capital One spokeswoman Julie Rakes told MortgageDaily.com. Hiring has already begun for the new jobs.

The city said the annual salary Capital One pays loan officers is $185,000 and for other staff is $55,000.

The potential economic impact of Capital One over 10 years has been estimated to be $322 million, the city said.

In addition to the city’s tax abatement, the state of Kansas has yet to finalize its program for Capital One’s division, thus Rakes could not confirm the total worth of incentives it will receive.