Huntington, Indiana --
Huntington County Economic Development Corporation and their client,
St. Paul, Minnesota-based Ecolab,Inc, confirmed today reports from earlier this year that the Company has selected Huntington for a new regional Health Care Distribution Center. The 132,000 square foot facility on Huntington's Commercial Road is now operational and is the second Ecolab facility in Huntington.
The
Greater Fort Wayne Business-Weekly reported in April that a lease agreement had been reached with building owner CP215, LLC of Huntington. Details of the project were not available at the time when the lease agreement was publicly reported by the real estate company handling the transaction.
Ecolab invested nearly $2 million to modernize the facility which will impact jobs at both locations in Huntington.
"This is very good news for Huntington," said Mark Wickersham, executive director of the Huntington County Economic Development Corporation.
Originally founded in Huntington in 1919 as the Huntington Chemical Company, becoming Huntington Laboratories in 1923, Ecolab acquired the company in 1996. The company is a global leader in water, hygiene and energy technologies and services. Around the world, businesses in the foodservice, food processing, hospitality, healthcare, industrial, and oil and gas markets use various products from Ecolab to keep their environments clean and safe, efficiently operating, and achieving sustainability goals.
Mayor Brooks Fetters added, "On behalf of the City of Huntington, I'm excited to say thank you to Ecolab for choosing Huntington for the project. The City and Ecolab, have worked very, very hard to make this become a reality. It took an extraordinary effort to turn 132,000 square feet into a world-class facility in less than five months. I'm very proud of our team in meeting this challenge, ultimately on behalf of over 100 families employed with Ecolab."
"Our local economic development team has treated the building as though it was our Community's version of a 'spec building,'" said Wickersham. "The City has made resources available to make the location very attractive for major projects at a cost significantly less than a spec building would have been. The once vacant building is now a multi-tenant facility with over 250,000 square feet occupied," he added.
Ecolab currently employs 125 in both their Huntington facilities.