08/24/12 City Attorney Sean Surrisi presented an Infrastructure Development Agreement to members of the Plymouth Redevelopment Commission Tuesday evening between the Board of Public Works and Safety, Redevelopment Commission and the VanVactor Family.
Jennifer Laurent, Executive Director of the Marshall County Economic Development Corporation explained about a potential development prospect for property in the TechFarm just off US 30. The “state of the art production line is a local company who needs room to grow.”
Kessler Crane at 602 East Jefferson Street is a creator of quality, affordable, easily functioning camera cranes and jibs that range in price from $279 to over $2,000. Their product design background uses up to date manufacturing techniques and cutting edge CNC technology. Owning a modestly priced first-rate camera crane / camera jib is no longer a dream with products from Kessler. Their business has experienced an 800% growth since opening in 2009, thus they have outgrown their current facility.
The proposal to the Redevelopment Commission by the VanVactor family is that they will concede their half of the land proceeds if the city is willing to concede their half . An additional requirement is that the Redevelopment Commission will agree to place that amount, $133,575 in future infrastructure development in their industrial park which is on both the north and south side of US 30.
Redevelopment member, Dan Tyree said, “We need to do this to keep them (Kessler) here.” He then spoke of a New York freelance producer who is a graduate from PHS, Liz Bradley who only uses Kessler equipment and was shocked when she learned that the equipment was produced right here in Plymouth.
It was noted that the company currently has 30 employees and the new facility would assure 10 additional jobs. Laurent said she is working to obtain state level incentives for the company and anticipates them moving towards 100 jobs in a short period of time. These are highly skilled people who make a high wage.
After some additional discussion the Plymouth Redevelopment Commission motioned to support the Infrastructure Development Agreement. The Plymouth Board of Public Works and Safety will consider the agreement at their meeting next Monday evening.
