Pro Print has announced plans to double the size of its Duluth operations at a new location in Airpark, a Duluth Seaway Port Authority-controlled industrial park.
The Port Authority recently approved Pro Print’s
purchase of a 3.8-acre parcel at the industrial development complex
(adjacent to the Duluth International Airport) for the purpose of constructing
a 20,000-square-foot printing plant. Co-owners Scott Cooke and Creston
Dorothy plan to invest $1.8 million in the new location, which will
allow the company to add workers and expand its growing business. The
new plant should be open by September.
The 29-year-old company currently employs 31 people. The parcel Pro Print is expanding on is in a Job Opportunity Building Zone (JOBZ), which will allow the company to receive exemptions from corporate franchise taxes, investors’ income and capital gains taxes, sales taxes and property taxes on site improvements until 2015. There is also an hourly wage qualification, ensuring good-paying jobs in the zones for the region.
“The space was badly needed and will allow us to add more workers for our growing business,” Mr. Cooke said. “We can now continue to develop our customer base and add new products as needed in our expanded Airpark location.”
The company provides several types of products, including printing letterhead, cards, annual reports, magazines and catalogs and providing mailing services.
The number of companies operating in the existing Airpark complex totals 36 with about 610 employees.
Pro Print’s building of the new plant will draw more attention to recently expanded Airpark, which still has approximately 50 acres of property available for sale.
|
| Cirrus Design supplier moves some spinoff operations
to Duluth
Duluth-based company that serves Cirrus Design Corp.’s airplane manufacturing operations will be created and will set up shop in a building owned by the Duluth Seaway Port Authority.
Wolf Ziegler, CEO of American Precision Assemblers, said that putting some operations in Duluth should result in better response times and improved customer service. He added that operating in the same city as Cirrus will make it possible to hand-deliver products on a daily basis via reusable containers, reducing the cost of shipping and handling. Initially, the Duluth-based business will employ about five people, but more work could be transferred later to Duluth from American Precision’s Illinois operations. The Port and American Precision already have talked about the possibility of the compay building its own manufaturing and assembly site in Duluth. |
The
new company will be known as American Precision Avionics. It will
be a spinoff of American Precision Assemblers of Hampshire, Ill.
That company has been supplying wiring and cable harnesses to Cirrus
for years.