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Wellman Dynamics announced the purchase of the former Ferrara Candy Company property at 500 Industrial Pkwy., Creston May 1. The property includes 315,000 square feet of manufacturing, office, and warehouse space along with approximately 20 acres of land. The price of the transaction was not disclosed. The facility will be repurposed into an expansion of Wellman’s existing foundry operations located at 1746 Commerce Rd.
“The purchase of this facility is part of the Company’s matching investment and an integral part of the Department of Defense’s Defense Production Act, Title III grant awarded to Wellman in late 2019. Our plans include expanding existing operations and separating our aluminum and magnesium casting operations to provide much needed capacity to support our growth,” stated Kandi Yrigoyen, Wellman’s director of sales and marketing.
Work on the facility will take place over the next twelve months prior to the arrival of approximately $24 million in new equipment earmarked for the existing plant and the new facility. Work on the existing Wellman plant was kicked off in January. Initial production at the new facility will include castings manufactured by Wellman for the CH-53K King Stallion heavy lift helicopter being manufactured for the U.S. Marine Corps.
“This transaction is great news for the Company and the City of Creston. This purchase takes advantage of an idle property in the town and restores it to an active manufacturing facility,” stated Yrigoyen. “Once completed, the new facility will be one of the most modern sand-casting production facilities in the United States. Plans for production in the facility are targeted for 2022.”
Wellman Dynamics has been a long-standing member of the Creston community since 1965 and employs approximately 400 people in its 225,000 square foot manufacturing facility.