By Jana Wiersema
A steel supplier from Seymour is planning to relocate to Columbus and invest more than $1.1 million in building improvements and equipment.
The Columbus City Council approved a resolution Tuesday granting a 10-year personal property tax abatement to Thormax Enterprises LLC for new manufacturing equipment.
Owner Chad Whittymore said the business plans to relocate to Columbus and consolidate operations within one building.
Thormax plans to lease 83,000 square feet of space within the former CCG building at 1960 15th St. in Columbus. The company is presently located at 101 W. Laurel St. near downtown Seymour.
The project calls for a $668,000 investment in installation of new manufacturing equipment, and they also intend to make building improvements of $520,000.
This is Thormax’s first investment in Bartholomew County, said Community Development Assistant Director Robin Hilber in a memorandum to city officials.
“Thormax has outgrown their facilities in Seymour,” she said at Tuesday’s meeting. “They actually looked for property in several counties and located the property at 17th and Central.”
Whittymore’s letter stated that as a result of the expansion, four jobs will be relocated and up to 24 more will be added within two years with an expected average wage of $21.36 per hour. Per Thormax’s incentive application, these new positions will include both skilled and semi-skilled jobs.
Hilber said Whittymore has told her this is a “conservative” estimate, as the company expects to add jobs more quickly than stated.
The application also states the company will be installing one tube mill immediately.
“Mills will be running galvanized steel tube for use in agricultural applications, temporary buildings, satellite installations and chain link fence,” the project description stated.
Thormax has been in business for about six years, Whittymore told the city council. They started working with steel at his house and then doing some processing out of a tube mill in Dayton to get “excess line capacity.”
In January 2019, the business purchased an approximately 20,000-square-foot property in Seymour and began doing secondary operations.
“Since then, business has continued to grow, gotten to the point now where we’re doing enough processing at the offsite facility that it makes more sense to kind of bring everything in-house and do it ourselves, give ourselves a little bit more flexibility and ability to service our customers,” Whittymore said. “Things have been growing. Things have done really well here since COVID, and we’re looking to expand.”
Per the application, planned building improvements include electrical, plumbing and office repairs to the building. The company will use 83,000 of the square feet available at 1960 15th St. The property is being separated, and its address will soon be 2250 15th St.
Whittymore also noted there is another 60,000 square feet behind them, and they hope it will still be available when Thormax is ready to expand.
“We’re hoping that you’re going to need it,” Councilman Frank Miller said.
Councilman Tom Dell added, “We appreciate your investment in Columbus, and this is one way we can make our investment back to you.”