Friday, September 21st, 2012
Versa Pak LTD to construct addition to current facility
By William Kincaid
CELINA - Versa Pak LTD is again expanding its operations.
The city's planning commission on Thursday evening unanimously approved a site plan review for a proposed industrial addition to the Versa Pak plant at 500 Staeger Road in the Grand Lake Industrial Park.
The business plans to build an 11,976-square-foot addition to its current facility, located on property zoned for manufacturing. Versa Pak President Vic Post said the company will build a new warehouse next month to have additional space for its products.
No additional jobs will be created at this time, he told the newspaper. Versa Pak has 45 employees, according to the Mercer County Community Development website,
After the meeting was called to order, planning commission member and city safety service director Tom Hitchcock immediately made a motion to accept the site plan review, which was approved by fellow members Tom Hone, Ralph Stelzer and Jeff Hazel, who also is the city mayor.
Hazel said the proposal is straight forward and already was reviewed by city engineers. Hone pointed out the building will not have heat or water.
Versa Pak - which converts raw materials into flexible packaging of different types and sizes of bags, rolls, sheeting, tubing and shrink bundling film - became the park's first tenant on Aug. 26, 2002, after council members approved the sale of three acres of land to the business for $75,000.
In 2008, the company purchased an additional 1.926 acres for $19,260 to build a warehouse, and bought another 3.645 acres for $36,450 in 2010 for expansion.
At the time of the land purchase in 2010, Versa Pak officials retained a five-year, right-of-first-refusal by city agreement, giving it the first opportunity to purchase nearby lots. When interest was shown in the nearby lots by another entity, Versa Pak exercised that right and was authorized by Celina city council members in December to purchase 5.142 acres at $51,420.
Versa Pak purchased the land as a future investment and nothing has been done to it since, according to Hazel.
The other tenant in the industrial park is Grand Lake Warehousing, which in 2010 purchased 12.59 acres from the city for $125,900 to construct a 60,000-square-foot facility.
The industrial park, situated at the corner of Staeger Road and state Route 29, is now technically full. The city plans on using lot 1 - a 2.516-acre platted area located in the north of the park - for a future water tower that will replace the one on Grand Lake Road. The park also contains a 3.049-acre lot used as a retention pond.
The city purchased the land for the Grand Lake Industrial Park from the Linus Braun Trust for $631,000 on Sept. 25, 2000. Infrastructure was installed and lots were made shovel-ready with electric, water, sewage and gas accessibility, including a pond for water runoff.
The city owes $359,221 in principal and interest on the industrial park debt, $44,904 of which was expected to be paid this year from the general fund. The debt matures in 2019.
