A Hammond robotics company’s expansion is expected to bring up to 60 new jobs to the city.
Tri-State Automation, 4923 Columbia Ave., opened the doors to its new, 14,000-square-foot facility at 710 Michigan St. at a Tuesday afternoon ribbon-cutting ceremony. The new place will serve as the company’s headquarters and showroom for its automation group, while manufacturing and repairs will continue at the Columbia Avenue facility, owner Don Keller said.
A second, 60,000-square-foot manufacturing facility will break ground behind its headquarters sometime this spring, he added. The project is currently going through the permitting process with the city.
Keller, who’s owned and operated Tri-State for 35 years, praised Mayor Tom McDermott Jr., Planning and Development Director Phil Taillon, Economic Development Director Africa Tarver and the rest of the staff for the city’s business climate.
“I have the utmost respect for Tom,” Keller said. “I’ve been (in Hammond) for 13 years, and this is the most progressive, business-friendly climate I’ve experienced.”
One of the trickiest things about the project was finding a place, Keller said. It was luck that the city had the 3.5 acres for Tri-State’s expansion.
“The outstanding staff was instrumental in helping us navigate through some pretty complicated stuff,” including zoning and environmental issues, Keller said. “Having to find a building with enough land for another building was hard enough, but to find one less than a mile from where we are is better than we ever imagined.”
With the two new facilities, Tri-State is making a more than $5 million investment in the city — $2.5 million with the renovation and more than $2.5 million with the new facility — and will bring between 30 and 60 jobs with salaries averaging in the $55,000 range, with benefits. The company currently employs 65 people at its Columbia Avenue facility, and they’ll remain there.
“Don’s proven you can invest in Hammond and make things work,” McDermott said. “More investment in the city means more jobs, and these are good jobs. I hear a lot of people say that the jobs we’ve gotten, you can’t live off them, but you can support a family on these jobs.”
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In addition to finding the land, the Indiana Economic Development Corp. offered Tri-State up to $185,000 in conditional tax credits based on job creation, and the city approved a $20,000 facade grant for the new building facilitated through the Lake County Economic Alliance. Jim Staton, IEDC’s Northwest Region director, said the tax credits weren’t a hard sell downstate at all.
“When I told (colleagues) that Tri-State manufactures robots, they said, ‘We want this in Indiana,'” Staton said.
Michelle L. Quinn is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.