City Hears Winona PVD Expansion Presentation
Jennifer Peryam
Times-Union Staff Writer
Winona PVD Coatings LLC is seeking to expand its operations in Warsaw and create an additional 60 jobs. Warsaw City Council heard a presentation on the proposed expansion during Monday night’s meeting. The company is requesting $2.2 million from the city’s northern tax increment finance district to cover the expansion.
The council unanimously approved Warsaw Redevelopment Commission reviewing the matter and coming back to the city with a recommendation to allow the city to go forward with issuing bonds to allow for the $2.2 million to be used for the expansion from the TIF district. Money from real and personal property taxes abated through the TIF district would be used to make the bond payments.
Winona PVD Coatings LLC, 1180 Polk Drive, Warsaw, currently houses a 68,000-square-foot building. The business wants to add an additional 62,000 square feet of new construction to the facility and lease an additional 50,000 square feet of space for finishing work. They also want to build a new building to the north of the facility of the building on the east side of the property.
In addition, the proposal includes a proposed $8.5 million spent for new production equipment. Jamie Visker, Winona PVD Coatings CEO, said the reason for the expansion is the need for more space for coating of chrome wheels. “The issue we have now is we have demand outserving supply, and we’ve got to expand, and we’d prefer to expand in Warsaw since our base of operations is here,” Visker said.
Employees currently make $15.60 an hour and salaried positions are an average of $70,000, Visker said.
George Robertson, Kosciusko Economic Development Corp. president, said he supported the expansion. “Businesses look at communities that solve problems and work together, and I think it is a great project for the community, county and city,” Robertson said.
Council President Joe Thallemer said he also supported the expansion. “The TIF district is an economic development tool and the funds are essentially to improve the TIF district and enhance it and by definition. This to me seems to fit the reason the TIF district was created,” Thallemer said.
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Warsaw Wins Expansions
InsideIndianaBusiness.com Report
Max Courtney, chair of Kosciusko Economic Development Corporation called it a “great night for the County and City” as the Warsaw City Council moved forward two of the major manufacturing expansions that KEDCo has been working with. “In Flexaust and Winona PVD, we have two great state of the art companies that are growing both in size and workforce. After a very insightful discussion, the City Council’s unanimous votes on both show the leadership to create growth and a better economy.”
The Council approved tax abatements for Flexaust, a subsidiary of the German conglomerate Schauenburg GmbH, which is acquiring the vacant 53,000 square foot manufacturing building at 602 Leiter Rd. in Warsaw to expand its manufacturing operations. They will add 25 manufacturing jobs in the first year of operation in the new facility. The Company currently employs 160 people in its 120,000 square foot Warsaw location. Total investment will be about $1.4 million in building and $2.1 million in equipment.
The Flexaust division has four manufacturing plants in the United States with the Warsaw facility serving as its US manufacturing headquarters. Their product lines include a variety of materials to produce reinforced flexible hoses for use in a wide range of industries.
“This is great news for Warsaw” noted Mayor Ernest Wiggins. “We are proud to be the US headquarters for this global manufacturer and are very happy they will be acquiring and extensively renovating a vacant building.”
The Council also approved conceptually the TIF bonding for Winona PVD’s expansion. This manufacturer of chrome plated wheels for the automotive industry will increase its manufacturing space by 62,000 of new construction and add 50,000 square feet of warehousing space. 60 new manufacturing jobs will be created with the opening of the new product line. Jamie Visker, Winona PVD’s CEO noted that the company and technology was “born in Warsaw and we want to continue to grow in Warsaw.” Total investment will be over $8 million in equipment and over $3 million in buildings.
President of the Kosciusko Economic Development Corporation George Robertson noted that both expansions had very competitive offers from Southern States to do the expansion there rather than in Warsaw. “In this economy, business retention is even more important,” Robertson noted, “as everyone wants new manufacturing jobs and the competition to keep expanding jobs is highly competitive.”
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