County of Chautauqua Industrial Development Agency (CCIDA) helps out Rem-tronics, Inc.
OBSERVER Photo by Gib Snyder
Posted December 18th, 2008; By GIB SNYDER
Remtronics Vice President and General Manager Matthew Karalunas speaks at the CCIDA meeting about his company.
County of Chautauqua Industrial Development Agency (CCIDA) helps out Rem-tronics, Inc.
The final piece in the ECR International puzzle was completed Tuesday. A resolution granting a PILOT program that would freeze ECR's property taxes on its Dunkirk facilities for the next 10 years was passed by the Chautauqua County Industrial Development Agency during its December meeting at the Clarion Hotel in Dunkirk.
The CCIDA also did its part to help the Remtronics Inc. move from Silver Creek to the former AL Tech office building on Willowbrook Avenue in the city of Dunkirk with a $495,000 loan.
Remtronics Vice President and General Manager Matthew Karalunas addressed the board prior to its vote.
Karalunas said the relocation project started some two years ago with the realization Remtronics needed more space. The company was also under pressure from its customers to reduce prices.
"I contacted the ownership and asked them what do you guys want to do. We've got to do something," Karalunas said. "They said I've got some property in Cleveland and they said come down and take a look at the property in Cleveland. It was OK, it was going to work but I really didn't want to leave Western New York, I wanted to stay here."
That desire led to a deal with the owners - find an equivalent place to what was available in Cleveland and the company could stay in the area. A possible Allegany Road site had a price tag, with a new building, of $2.5-$3 million and was ruled out by the owners.
"We started looking at every building we could conceivably put our hands on and get into. We found one on Brigham Road. It didn't have air conditioning, it would have taken an exceedingly large amount of money and capital to get it where we needed it," Karalunas said. "Luckily someone found out again we were looking for property and they called me up and they said we've got another facility over here in Dunkirk and come down and look at it. Lo and behold we looked at it and it's a perfect building. It's going to fit the environment. It's going to give us the growth that we need. It's going to optimize lean manufacturing. ... For us it's an ideal situation but more important are the people that have really put the sweat equity in the company the past 10 to 15 years here in Western New York. And that's my goal to keep them here."
Karalunas said there are about 59 employees with eight staff members.
"We've got a lot of opportunities and we're hoping to retain those 59 people and of course my interest is, if we're going to do this we've got to hire people. With the expansion into the clean-room realm and with expansion in electronics we hope to capture those high-route markets."
CCIDA Chief Executive Officer Bill Daly CCIDA commended Karalunas for his "doggedness" in keeping the company local and also had words of praise for Silver Creek officials who recognized the greater good and signed off on the deal.