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Local News for Tuesday 2/27/01

Growing firm chooses Southport facility for expansion

Steuben company taking applications, expects to hire 100 over three years

By JEFF MURRAY
Star-Gazette
SOUTHPORT - A Steuben County manufacturer will double in size by opening a plant in the Elmira area and creating up to 100 jobs over the next three years.

Air-Flo Manufacturing Corp., based in Prattsburgh, will lease space at the former American LaFrance property off South Main Street in the town of Southport and invest $1.2 million in new machinery and equipment. Air-Flo will continue to operate in Prattsburgh, where it employs 100.

The expansion and new jobs will be phased in over three years, company officials said. Air-Flo makes steel truck bodies found on dump trucks used in construction and related industries.

The company will initially lease 50,000 square feet of the 330,000-square-foot building, with an option to lease an additional 100,000 square feet.
Air-Flo looked at several locations, but decided to stay in the Southern Tier because of New York state's new business-friendly climate, said company President Chuck Musso. "We looked in Virginia, North Carolina, actually we explored all of our options as to where we wanted to put in the expansion," Musso said Monday. "After looking at several different sites in the state and outside, we have concluded that we feel that the Elmira facility is going to be our best choice.

"We feel more comfortable now seeing these changes to the business climate," Musso said. "We've concluded that especially in the Empire Zone (New York state) is as competitive as anything we saw in the Southern states."

Musso said his company's lease begins on Thursday, and he expects the new plant to be producing new products in about two months. Musso said the state Department of Labor has already begun collecting applications for Air-Flo, and that Air-Flo will start hiring for its Elmira plant in about two weeks.

"We'll be hiring mostly welders at first, plus different types of production workers," Musso said. Musso said he was not sure how much the workers would be paid, though it would be "a competitive wage scale, commensurate with the experience of the employee."

American LaFrance closed its doors in 1985, idling about 250 workers. Since then, the building has had a handful of tenants. Currently, Klee's Moving and Storage, Pallet Corp. of America and Echo Bridge lease a combined 70,000 square feet. Local economic development officials have been looking for a strong anchor tenant to make that property more productive.

"It's a good score. It's exactly what we needed," said Chemung County Executive Tom Santulli. "What is particularly noteworthy is there's another building that we've all been concerned about. Now you have a company that's going to come in and make a major investment. There needed to be a major tenant willing to invest and expand and we now have that company."

Air-Flo was founded in the early 1960s by Musso's father and uncles, Musso said. Company officials were impressed with the quality of the work force in the Elmira area, he said.

Initially, the new site will continue to manufacture existing product lines, Musso said.

"As the expansion grows we hope to add new products to the Elmira facility and additional manufacturing lines for those products," Musso said.

Chemung County Legislature Chairman John Flory, whose district includes the American LaFrance property, said it's gratifying to finally see some development in that part of the county. "We've been working hard to get that place occupied for the last six or seven years," said Flory, who also chairs the county Industrial Development Agency. "I think the good part about it is it gives more balance to the county. We don't put all our eggs in one basket in Big Flats or Horseheads."

Negotiations to bring the company to the Elmira area lasted several months, and were touch and go at times, said Southport Town Supervisor Robert Masia. "It's real good news and I'm very happy about it. It's going to be real great for us," Masia said. "It was on and off. At one time they were talking about buying it. Then I thought we lost them. Then they decided to lease it."

Because it intends to create new jobs and invest in the state economy, Air-Flo can apply for a $150,000 grant from Empire State Development. The company will also receive additional tax credits and benefits because the former American LaFrance facility is part of the Elmira Empire Zone.

"The governor's Empire State Development office and STEG responded to find Air-Flo the space they needed to expand," said George Miner, president of Southern Tier Economic Growth. "This is a great win for the Southern Tier economy.

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