U.S. Packaging to build new plant in East Troy
By Tracy Ouellette
Editor
East Troy Village Board President Randy Timms announced at Monday night’s board meeting that U.S. Packaging will expand its operations in East Troy this year, building a new plant in the Industrial Park.
Timms said the move will consolidate U.S. Packaging’s operations to East Troy with the new plant housing the company’s MaxPax services, which is in Walworth.
Timms has been working with the owner and general manager of the company since last fall on the proposed business expansion. He said the company has about 30 employees at the East Troy plant and another 70 at the Walworth plant, but the company is growing and he was told they plan on hiring about 200 more people after the new plant is finished.
“I would think the Walworth people would commute,” Timms said Monday night. “But we don’t know where the other 200 will come from, so there may be local jobs.”
U.S. Packaging is in the process of purchasing 80 acres in the Industrial Park on the east side of Honey Creek Apartments, Timms said.
Earlier in the meeting, the board listened to an update from Vytau Barcas, a representative of MLG the village’s commercial real estate agent. Barcas told the board that things in the commercial real estate market were “dismal” and he didn’t think things would pick up for at least another two years. He said the U.S. Packaging expansion was the biggest business real estate deal in Walworth County in the past few years.
In a press release, Timms outlined how the business expansion in East Troy came to be. He said a local real estate agent was working with someone buying a home and during a conversation it became clear the company he worked for was in the process of looking for a new home.
“Business was great and the facility was too small – so a change was necessary,” Timms stated in the release. “But, the location for this new home could be out of East Troy or even out of Wisconsin. The real estate agent, realizing we needed to retain this business told me about it and got permission for me to contact this gentleman to discuss their needs and determine whether East Troy could solve their space needs.”
Timms said it was in late October that he met with the owner of U.S. Packaging and the company’s general manager.
“We had a wonderful discussion and it was a pleasure getting to know what their requirements were going to be,” Timms stated. “We agreed I could involve MLG as owners of the land in our Industrial Park, to see whether something attractive could be done for everyone’s benefit. After several meetings and many conversations, it appears U.S. Packaging is not just staying in East Troy, but building a significant expansion in our Industrial Park.”
U.S. Packaging has submitted an offer to buy the property in the Industrial Park and Timms told the board Monday night it was just now a matter of “getting all the ducks in a row.”
The board approved a motion to increase this year’s budgeted amount for miscellaneous expenses in TID 3, where the new plant will be, from $6,000 to $25,000 in anticipation of the increased financial costs of the new construction. There a still a few details to work on in regard to the water and sewer needs, and exactly what the plant will look like, but Timms told the board those items should be addressed shortly and the aim was to get the construction specs to the Plan Commission at its July meeting.
Liquor licenses approved
The approved Monday night several liquor licenses for village businesses and special events this summer. They included:
Class A beer to Roettgers Co., Inc. – East Troy Mobile.
Class A combination to East Troy Lueptow’s Inc. – Frank’s Liquor; East Troy Point LLC – East Troy Shell; Chapman Oil Inc. – East Troy BP; Road Ranger LLC;
Class B combination to Bartec Inc. – East Troy House/Ivan’s; The Grist Mill LLC; Don Amigos 2 LLC; Robran Farms LLC (Ronald Roban) – Al Smith’s Saloon; Dolspslein Enterprises LLC – Al Smith’s Saloon; Three Taps Saloon LLC – Sammy’s Place;
Class B beer/wine to Estrada Inc. – Princess Café;
Temporary Class B for the Fourth of July celebration at Rossmiller Park; and for the East Troy Chamber of Commerce’s June 19 Cycling Classic.
