MOUNT VERNON — With the purchase of the four-door test bay in Heartland Commerce Park, American Isostatic Presses joins The Ohio Mint, Markt Solutions, and Knox Area Transit as tenants in the industrial complex.
The Columbus-based company bought the 32,400-square-foot-building from the Knox County Land Reutilization Corp., aka Knox County Land Bank, for $1.45 million. They closed the deal on May 18.
Land Bank President Jeff Gottke is excited about the company coming to HCP.
“It is an expansion project into the community with high-paying jobs that fit the skill sets of local residents,” he said. “That’s exactly what we are looking for in this property. It’s an ideal fit.”
AIP owner Reggie Persaud said he has been looking for a new site for a long time. He bought property next to the Columbus site five years ago; it took two-and-a-half years to build the building, and it went over budget.
“We’re up to our neck in work in Columbus, but we can’t find people here to work. We just built next to our building in Columbus, but it’s expensive to build,” he said.
He found an existing building, but it had already sold. Then the Realtor told him about Heartland Commerce Park.
Persaud said the building is what attracted him to HCP, noting it will save him a lot of work and money.
“Plus, it has the ability to expand in the next 10 years or more,” he said.
He will, however, invest about $250,000 to shore up the structure to support AIP’s heavy equipment. Additionally, he will invest $4 million to $5 million in the equipment itself.
Isostatic pressing is a process that reduces the porosity of metal and increases the density of ceramic materials. In other words, it makes things denser and stronger.
AIP presses products and builds the presses.
“We’ve experienced no downturn for the last 20 years, not even during 2008,” Persaud said. “Even during COVID we didn’t slow down. There’s a good possibility we could put $10 to $15 million in equipment into the building.”
The land bank has some work to do before AIP can move in, but Persaud expects to be pressing in the next month. He plans to start building equipment within six months, with a second round of new equipment in nine months.
Initial job creation is three or four jobs in the first six months. Persaud said jobs would easily move to 15 to 20 over the next several years. Two people from Columbus will come up to run the facility.
Pay ranges from $17 to $35 per hour depending on what level the employee comes in but will trend toward the higher end. Management will be on salary.
The company pays 100% of insurance and offers a 5% matching 401K.
“We try to take care of the people because without them, we could not have a company,” Persaud said.
In business 30 years, Persaud, in conjunction with his brothers, does isostatic pressing in Mississippi and Oregon. Additionally, he and his brothers, along with another partner, have a company in Spain.
“I want to control growth. If you get too big, you lose control,” he said. “I don’t try to get outside of that group [of partners].”
The company does high-tech work for Fortune 500 companies, Corning, the government, nuclear, the Navy, and medical companies, among others. Persaud said the company is very much in a niche market.
“There are only three companies in the western hemisphere doing this: us, Belgium, and Sweden. We’re the only American company,” he said.
Because AIP does a lot of government work, employees are required to be a U.S. citizen.
I am hoping the new KAT facilities get started.