A measure passed with no fanfare at Tuesday’s meeting of Bradford City Council is actually some pretty big news for the city.
On Wednesday, businessman John Kohler spoke to The Era about some property he purchased from the city. He’s got some big plans in store for it.
“I am actually buying land from the city and the water authority, the flood authority and the SPCA,” Kohler said.
He owns a warehouse on Glenwood Avenue, by the SPCA, and is expanding it to meet the needs of the renter — Graham Packaging.
“We’re going to expand the Graham Packaging warehouse,” Kohler said.
It is currently 124,800 square feet, and will be enlarged by 79,200 square feet.
“When it’s done, it will be almost 5 acres under roof,” he said. “It’s a lot of bottles under there.”
Kohler referred specific questions to Graham, but gave an overview of what’s happening. He said the company has added manufacturing lines, which will necessitate them using more space at their Bolivar Drive facility. They will need more storage space for the bottles they make, which is where Kohler’s warehouse expansion comes in.
Plant manager Dustin Craig said Graham has added 35 employees over the last 18 months.
“It’s very interesting technology,” he said, referring to the silos that have been constructed at the plant, and the shipping crates that have been stacked near the U.S. Route 219 bypass.
Most of the equipment needed for the manufacturing has been shipped to Bradford from overseas, he explained, as the specialized equipment isn’t made in America.
“We’re definitely building up here,” he said.
Mayor Tom Riel said he was grateful for the expansion project.
“We were approached by Mr. Kohler about this project probably a year or more ago,” Riel said. “The city sold Mr. Kohler 0.86 of an acre from the rear northwest of the property” that is the Department of Public Works area. “There were a lot of issues involved. We had to work out an agreement so the city was not restricted from use of the DPW building.”
He said the millings pile and the sand and gravel bins used by the DPW will have to be moved, but added, “It won’t have a serious impact on the day-to-day function of the DPW.”
Riel said, “The city wanted to do everything they could. It was a very large, multi-million-dollar project. We knew facilitating this would not only build the tax base, but it would create good-paying jobs. It’s a win-win for everybody.”
Kohler added his appreciation for the city, water authority, flood authority and SPCA for working with him to make the project happen.
The businessman said, “It’s more jobs for Bradford.”
