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New factory comes to city

By G. Michael Dobbs

Managing Editor



CHICOPEE A company from Springfield will relocate to the Chicopee River Business Park and may create over a hundred new jobs.

Mayor Michael Bissonnette and The Westmass Area Development Corporation, (Westmass), an affiliate of the Economic Development Council of Western Massachusetts (EDC), announced last week that Harvey Industries, Inc. will construct a new manufacturing facility at the industrial park.

A groundbreaking is expected in 2007.

Harvey Industries, Inc. manufactures vinyl window and doors and has been leasing space on Cottage Street in Springfield. Due to the growth of its business, the company was seeking a location for a new facility that would allow for expansion.

The company currently employs more than 230 people and Bissonnette said the expansion might see the workforce increase to 400 people.

"This new facility will more closely replicate Harvey's newest manufacturing facilities and will become its newest showcase," Tom Russell, senior vice president of manufacturing, Harvey Industries, said. "The company and its owners take great pride in its employees and its facilities, and the new site, with its close proximity to our leased space in Springfield will allow Harvey to retain all its present employees and continue to add manufacturing jobs to this region's economy."

Bissonnette told The Chicopee Herald there needs to be a regional effort to keep companies such as Harvey in western Massachusetts. Noting the growth of retail businesses along Memorial Drive, Bissonnette said that while he welcomes those service sector jobs, the higher paying manufacturing jobs offered by companies such as Harvey allow people to build a future here.

"It's critical to keep companies [such as this one] here," Bissonnette said.

The new building will be approximately 255,000 square feet in area, an increase of over 100,000 square feet.

Bissonnette described the Chicopee River Business Park as "a gorgeous property" on the site of the former Oxford Country Club. It's access to both Interstate 291 and the Massachusetts Turnpike makes it an attractive site to businesses, he added.