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The headquarters of Staub Precision Machine in Hamburg. medical cnc machining
Two years after scrapping a plan to construct a building adjacent to its manufacturing campus as costs ballooned, a Village of Hamburg manufacturer is taking another stab at it.
Staub Precision Machine, a maker of high-precision machined components, wants to build a 58,000-square-foot factory on a 7.1-acre field on Grimsby Drive to bring its existing operations closer together and allow for future growth.
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The company, which would consolidate its high-volume manufacturing equipment into the new building from a plaza on Lake Street, says the project would allow it to scale up its operations and maximize its production capabilities, while alleviating space constraints it now faces.
It’s asking for $1.77 million in tax breaks from the Hamburg Industrial Development Agency to support the $8.84 million project, which is expected to create five full-time jobs on top of the company’s existing workforce, according to the company’s application to the HIDA.
This is the second time this project has come to the HIDA for tax breaks. Staub’s owner, Joseph Pinker Jr., brought what was then a $7.5 million project forward in 2021 for a 40,000-square-foot new building, along with a separate proposal for an 18,000-square-foot addition for a sister company, K&H Industries Inc., to house the operations of a newly acquired third company that was being relocated from Ohio.
But while the addition for K&H went forward, the new building for Staub did not, because of rising costs and interest rates. Its original sleek design also included higher-end features and materials that were more expensive, so Staub redesigned the project to cut back the cost, said HIDA Executive Director Sean Doyle.
Staub makes specialized parts for medical equipment, as well as for telecommunications, defense and aerospace products. It also produces components used in guitars. But three of its clients produce the kind of oxygen therapy equipment – such as such as ventilators, home oxygen concentrators and liquid oxygen tanks – that were in high demand during the Covid-19 pandemic, and Staub is their only provider of certain parts.
So the company reactivated older production equipment from storage, purchased several new CNC machines, and automated more of its process to bolster production, spending $2.5 million last year on new equipment.
Two of its three facilities are next to each other on Grimsby, across the street from K&H Industries, a manufacturer of temporary lighting and power products. Both companies are owned by Pinker, who has managed K&H for over 25 years and acquired Staub in January 2018. Pinker leases all three Staub manufacturing sites from the former company owner.
But the third Staub plant – and the company’s largest – is located a mile away, in back of a retail plaza at 206 Lake. That leads to inefficiencies, Pinker said. The company is already using all the available space in that building, leaving no room for more equipment or staff, and the building’s electrical system is approaching its maximum loads.
To expand there, Pinker would have to acquire the retail plaza, evict the other long-term tenants, rehab the building, and upgrade the electrical service. “This would be a very expensive option that would still leave the businesses physically separated,” he said.
Instead, the company plans to construct the building at the end of Grimsby, adding to its 20-acre campus. Staub previously acquired the former Evans Bancorp headquarters on Grimsby for its engineering and administrative offices.
“This is a great opportunity to secure and bring addition jobs to our local community,” Pinker wrote to the HIDA.
Project costs include $400,000 for the property acquisition, $7.83 million in construction, $210,000 for utility work, $85,000 for furniture and equipment and $310,000 in professional fees. It will be financed with $8.84 million in bank loans from Five Star Bank.
Staub is asking the HIDA for $239,794 in sales tax breaks, $66,263 in mortgage-recording tax abatement and a 10-year payment-in-lieu-of-taxes on the property that would save $1.46 million. Staub also is seeking incentives from New York State Electric & Gas, the New York Power Authority and Empire State Development Corp.
“The agencies’ assistance is critical to help us through this expansion project,” Pinker wrote. “Post-pandemic, we are in a very good position to continue our footprint within the industry. In order to do so, we need a proper building that is tailored to our operational and manufacturing needs.”
Pinker also cited the company’s loyalty to the village, noting that the company had considered buying an available facility outside of Hamburg in 2018, noting that “it would have been an ideal building for Staub Precision and very affordable.” But “we walked away at the last minute because we feel like we belong in Hamburg.”
The project already received municipal approval. Construction is slated to begin in May, with completion by May 2025, and occupancy by the end of 2025.
Reach Jonathan D. Epstein at (716) 849-4478 or jepstein@buffnews.com.
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The headquarters of Staub Precision Machine in Hamburg.
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