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August 21, 2009

New business to bring jobs to Northern Tier

By MICHELLE BESAW

CHAMPLAIN — A new business is moving into the Village of Champlain, bringing up to 40 new jobs to the area.

Elegance Coating, a vehicle-painting company, has signed a five-year lease for an empty warehouse at 33 West Service Road.

The company will paint Nova Buses being manufactured in Plattsburgh.

HIRING SOON
Emilie Morin of Elegance Coating said the village was "very helpful" in getting the arrangement under way.

"We built a great network (of people) in just a couple weeks," she said, adding that the whole deal came together quickly.

Hiring will begin the second week of September, and the company will likely hold a job fair.

Morin said they will initially hire 20 employees but will aim to employ 30 to 40 people within six months.

They will be looking for one clerk to work the desk and a number of painters, sanders, maskers and cleaners.

As with any business, Morin said, they will be looking for experienced workers, preferably those with body-shop background. But she said they will train people.

'IDEAL SITE'
The village reacted positively during the process," Morin said.

"Even people from the community were really happy that we are going to create 30 jobs in a small town like that."

"It's a Champlain Village — not town — village project," Zoning Board member Orville Gload said at a meeting recently. "Everything is positive so far."

"The benefit here is we're replacing warehouse jobs with much higher-paying jobs," said Matthew T. Boire of CDC Real Estate Inc.

"Like we did with Nova Bus, CDC Real Estate Inc. worked with Elegance Coating from the start to assist them in finding a suitable location for their new operations," Boire said. "The site in Champlain was ideal for their setup."

"This is the only building they found to suit their needs," Village Clerk Donna Barcomb said.

OWNER CHANGES
The building had housed Anchor Motorfreight into the late 1980s.

Border Industrial Park LLC purchased it and remodeled the building into a warehouse. In the past 10 years, it has housed Redstone Fashions, a golf apparel company and Affiliated Customs Brokers.

Elegance Coating had to obtain a number of permits to switch the building use from commercial to industrial.

Concerns were brought to the Zoning Board about environmental issues regarding paint fumes, but Morin said they are installing a paint booth that meets environmental standards.

"It will make it safe for everyone," she said.

SECOND U.S. SITE
Elegance Coating has been working with Nova Bus's sister company, Prevost Bus, for two years and has a location in Debary, Fla.

The Champlain location will be the company's second site in the United States.

Morin said she is hoping to extend the five-year lease in the village.

"We're opening it (the business) to stay open as long as possible."

CHAMBER EFFORT
The Plattsburgh-North Country Chamber of Commerce played a role in landing Elegance Coating, according to CEO Garry Douglas.

He said the chamber "helped them extensively in coming up with projected site, energy, work force and other costs."

The chamber also connected the company with Empire State Development, the Labor Department and others.

E-mail Michelle Besaw at: mbesaw@pressrepublican.com

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