A machine company that once made parts for the Hubble space telescope as well as the first lunar orbiter broke ground Monday morning for its new facility to rise at the Fox Hollow industrial park off Jack’s Hill Road.
Gen-El Mec Associates, Inc., hopes to complete its 30,000 square-foot building next summer, said company president Dean Contaxis, who wore a hard hat and posed with a shovel, alongside town officials, including First Selectwoman Mary Ann Drayton-Rogers.
“The winter weather will be the big key,” Contaxis said of his prospects for opening the factory next summer.
The company has long been based on Bridgeport’s State Street.
Contaxis is moving the company to Oxford because he believes there are more qualified workers in the area. Click here for a previous story.
“With this building we’ll have the ability to expand,” he said of the new facility.
The company currently employs 26 people, he said, making parts for aerospace, medical, semiconductor and other industries.
Heavy equipment began working at the site last week, preparing the ground for construction. Monday was the ceremonial start of the process.
The $3 million building will be built by the Claris Construction Co.
Drayton-Rogers welcomed the company to Oxford.
“I definitely want to welcome Gen-El-Mec as our newest company to Oxford,” Drayton-Rogers said. “I know you’ve worked on the first lunar orbiter that went into space as well as the Hubblel telescope. That to me is amazing.”
The rest of the industrial park is filling up.
Herman Schuler, the town’s economic development director, said Gen-El-Mec will bring at least $30,000 in tax revenue to Oxford.
There will be additional taxable personal property in the building, such as computers, compressors and other non-manufacturing equipment.
Schuler said he could not forecast the tax income that will bring for the town.
Schuler said it is the second machine shop building in Fox Hollow.
Another one is building across the street, called Consulting Engineering & Development, now based in New Milford. That company is building a 30,000 square-foot facility worth about $3 million.
“It’s really an interesting thing that we have two projects being built at the same time,” Schuler said.
B‑United International, a beer importing company located in the industrial park, is expanding. The company has completed the foundation for its 10,000 square-foot brewery addition to its beer warehouse facility.
The beer company will occupy 32,000 square feet.
The town’s industrial grand list now stands at $223.7 million, up $110.6 million, or 97 percent, over fiscal year fiscal year 2006 – 2007, Schuler said.
