(La Porte, IN) - A multinational manufacturing company is landing in La Porte.  Patrick Industries plans to open a new 60,000 square-foot facility at Thomas Rose Industrial Park.

 

On Tuesday night, La Porte’s City Council approved tax abatements on property investments over ten years.  In return, Patrick Industries will make an initial capital investment of $8 million, with the hopes of investing another $9 million down the road. Also, the company pledges to create up to 35 new jobs, with an average wage of $26 an hour plus benefits.

 

La Porte Mayor Tom Dermody says the move shows that La Porte’s arrow is pointing up.  "Patrick Industries is a well-known company, throughout the United State and throughout the world," he said after Tuesday night's meeting,  "and for them to want to expand and grow in the city of La Porte, we're excited."  Dermody said the quality of the jobs is just as important as the quantity. "These are the type of jobs that we want people to be excited about.  People are recognizing the business-friendly community that we have here in La Porte. And with the quality of life that we have, we can compete with a lot of different communities."

 

Patrick Industries manufactures mostly flat-surface components and fixtures for recreational vehicles and manufactured housing.  They operate over 170 facilities in the US and abroad.  Hugo Gonzalez is Patrick Industries’ Senior Vice President.  He says La Porte stood out because of its location between Chicago and Elkhart and because it has space ready to occupy.

 

Gonzalez says they hope to start up in the next few months.  Manufacturing machinery will soon be on its way from Italy, which will take six to eight weeks to arrive and be installed.

He says the company is finalizing job descriptions and will look to start gathering a workforce in a month or two.