LACON, IL (July 19, 2020) – Two growing local businesses have come forward in the past month and publicly declared interest in property in Lacon’s industrial park at the northeast edge of town, and city officials have started the formal process of putting the land up for bids.

Representatives of Hardin Industries LLC, a longstanding metal fabricator that produces custom generator packaging and other equipment, appeared before the City Council last week to express interest in acquiring 10 of the roughly 28 city-owned acres neighboring the company’s existing site at 400 N. Commercial St.

That came just a month after officials from River Valley Pipe LLC, a manufacturer of farm drainage tile, told the council that their firm would like to obtain the entire 28 acres in order to relocate and expand its current operation off Illinois Route 26 just north of town.

Hardin, which now operates in two buildings totaling 54,800 square feet, expects to expand in two years, with an initial phase requiring at least five acres for a 50,000-square-foot addition, CEO and part-owner Becki Salmon told the council.

“We’re planning internally to grow in 2022,” said Salmon, adding that 10 acres are sought partly to allow for further growth in the future.

“We are in the early stages of planning our expansion,” a printed summary emphasized. “The timing of the expansion and size of the building may change based on our customers’ requirements and changes in technology.”

Founded by Dale Hardin in 1983 in a downtown-area building and later moved to its present site, Hardin was purchased in 2016 by Salmon and FSM, the summary stated. Its principal office is now in St. Louis at the office of Millstone Capital Advisers LLC, an investment firm, according to Illinois Secretary of State records.

Since 2016, the number of employees has risen from 29 to 64, and the addition of health insurance and other benefits has increased the value of the average employment package by 25 percent, according to the printout. The company also has invested heavily in capital improvements, safety improvements, and employee training, it stated.

“Over the past three years, the current ownership has invested over $5 million in Hardin to improve our facilities and workforce,” the summary said.

Under current estimates, production employment is projected to increase to 99 by the end of 2022 and 143 by the end of 2024, Salmon said. About 20 percent of the current employees are Lacon residents, she added.

“That’s a lot of jobs for a small town,” observed John Wabel, mayor of the city of about 2,000.

There was more council discussion of the Hardin project than there had been when the River Valley Pipe officials laid out their potential expansion plans last month. And whereas Wabel’s comment on that proposal had been that the council would “kick it around,” he remarked of the Hardin plan that he would “like to see it happen.”

The land will have to go through a public bidding process, and the council approved the step of publishing a notice to solicit sealed bids for “all or part” of the parcel.

“We’ll still have the option of rejecting any or all of the bids that come in,” Wabel said.

https://www.pjstar.com/news/20200719/second-lacon-manufacturer-seeks-industrial-park-property

Source: the Journal Star