A Chicago shipping supplies company will consolidate and expand its Gwinnett County operations, promising to bring 500 new jobs to the county over the next 10 years.

Uline Shipping Supplies will get a $800,000 property tax cut over 10 years in exchange for agreeing to stay in the county, according to Alfie Meek, director of the county's economic development program.

The deal is the third for the county under its economic incentives program, in which the county gives tax benefits to companies that agree to locate to or stay in the county and bring new high-paying jobs or development investment.

Uline will consolidate two facilities totaling 350,000 square feet on Satellite Boulevard and Northmont Parkway into one 500,000-square-foot warehouse and call center in the Buford Distribution Center on Satellite.

As is the case with the current facilities, the new center will take calls from and ship goods to customers in a seven state region surrounding Georgia, said Uline Chief Financial Officer Frank Unick.

The company sells shipping and packing supplies such as boxes, bubble wrap and tape.

The company, which currently employs about 250 people in Gwinnett, said explosive growth over the eight years mandated the expansion. Although it has suffered slightly from the current economic downturn, Unick said business remains strong and growth expectations are high.

The new jobs the company has promised will come exclusively through growth, Unick said.

Distribution companies such as Uline are not typically in the targets of Partnership Gwinnett, the Chamber of Commerce led effort to bring thousands of high-paying jobs to the county over the next five years.

But Nick Masino, the chamber's vice president of economic development, said Uline's wages are $10,000 higher than the industry average, making the company a good bet for the county.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, non-supervisory salaries in the wholesale industry ranged from $23,090 to $36,610 in 2006, the latest year for which data is available.

Masino said the deal shows Gwinnett economic development incentives ordinance, first approved in 2006 and updated in March to give county officials more flexibility, is beginning to work.

"This is the first of many deals to come in 2008," he said.