Port
Authority's Airpark continues to grow
56 companies on Port properties now provide 800-plus family-wage jobs
Airpark, the industrial park owned and developed by the Port Authority, is visibly growing. Four companies are expanding into new space this summer. Fifty-six companies that provide about 840 family-wage jobs are now operating on Port Authority properties. An update on Airpark:
Twin Ports Paper & Supply
Twin Ports Paper & Supply celebrated a grand opening June 14 at its new $1-million, 20,000-square-foot office complex at Airpark. The Duluth paper company has supplied necessities such as bags, toilet paper and hand towels to regional supermarkets for about six years and has grown to serve more than 40 northern Minnesota grocery stores. The new facility will enable the company to "take on bigger customers and work more efficiently with existing customers," said company President Paul Laskowski. "We've added two employees to our previous workforce of 16, of which eight are family members. This expansion brings our family-run organization to the next level."
Westburne Supply, Inc.
Westburne Supply broke ground on June23 at Airpark for a 54,000 square-foot facility, more than doubling the size of its previous location. "Our new facility will incorporate a state-of-the-art valve actuation department to serve our pipe, valve and fitting customers," said District Manager Joe Sitek. "The new building will also include a 4,000-square foot showroom to feature working displays for our plumbing and heating customers."
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Westburne
Supply's 54,000 square-foot building will include a 4,000-foot showroom.
Westburne Supply |
GPM, Inc.
GPM, one of the earliest companies to locate in Airpark, added 9,100 square feet to its building in July. More space was needed to allow further distribution, repair and assembly of the pumps and components that the company has manufactured there since 1972. The new space was fitted with an overhead crane for manufacturing and servicing pumps.
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| United Piping, constructing a 10,000 square-foot manufacturing building at Airpark, recently landed a major natural gas pipeline project. |
United Piping, Inc.
United Piping, which specializes in mechanical contracting, pipe fabrication, engineering and underground utility production, constructed an office/manufacturing facility of 10,000 square feet on a seven-acre site at Airpark in June. The company was recently hired for the largest pipeline building project in the U.S. It will build the Springville Compressor Station in Indiana for Vector Pipeline's new 344-mile, 42-inch pipeline project that will transport natural gas from the Chicago area to the upper Midwest, eastern United States and eastern Canada.
