Taylor Northeast announced today it has broken ground on a half a million dollar expansion to its main facility in Morgantown, Pennsylvania. The expansion, which includes a new warehouse and parts storage extension, will greatly increase Taylor Northeast's capacity to provide material handling equipment and industrial cleaning equipment to customers throughout the region.
The expansion, according to sales manager Kevin Koch, is the result of the steady growth of Taylor Northeast's product inventory and service area over the past two decades. The company, which was founded in 1988, initially specialized in sales, rentals, and service of forklifts and material handling equipment for customers in Eastern Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, and Maryland. It has since added railcar movers, personnel carriers, and cleaning machines such as floor sweepers and scrubbers to its core product lines. It now services much of the Mid-Atlantic region and parts of the Northeast.
"We were running out of room and needed the space to increase our operating capabilities," Koch said. "Soon we'll be able to add service bays, increase our workspace, and become more efficient."
The expansion will feature a new 5,000 square foot drive-in warehouse that will be attached to the existing shop. The facility's parts room will also be extended, with additional space provided for small parts and storage. Construction of the new building, which began on August 22nd, is expected to be completed in early 2013.
Koch added that planning for the project began in the spring of 2011 and is Taylor Northeast's largest physical expansion since the opening of its Baltimore, Maryland branch in 1992. He also noted that the Morgantown branch has operated out of the same building for over 22 years.
"We came to a point where we were forced to use some of our shop space for storage, all while we were trying to take on new projects," Koch said. "We were ready for more in terms of the workload we had coming in and how we wanted to manage our rental fleet and other needs."
He added, "We expect to immediately gain an extra 1800 square feet of shop space. We broke ground as soon as the building permits were online."
The new additions are being built by Hollenbach Construction of Boyertown, Pennsylvania -- the same company that constructed the current facility in 1990. Koch said he was glad the site's original contractor could be a part of its expansion.
"It's great that Hollenbach was here back in the early days and now they're part of our ongoing growth as a company," Koch said. "This is an important part of our strategy to provide more equipment solutions to more businesses in even more areas. It's an exciting major step for Taylor Northeast and our customers."
