Mayor Steve Welle may find the air much sweeter now that Takasago International will be moving into the village of Harriman”™s Business Park on Route 17.
The postage-stamp size municipality, named for the Harriman family whose home overlooks the village, lost its one of its primary commercial tax ratables, Nepera Chemical, when that company moved offshore in 2007, taking more than 100 jobs with it. The fragrance manufacturer will be consolidating its New Jersey-based manufacturing and warehouse facilities and bring them under one roof at the former Manhattan Beer Distributors”™ site.
Takasago, in business since 1920, has been one of the leading global manufacturers of fragrances for everything from food, perfume to personal care products. The company started a search for a new location to consolidate operations in 2006.
Orange County Partnership and Empire State Development worked to secure Empire Zone status for the project before the program ended in June 2010. “That designation and the certification as a Regionally Significant Project helped close the deal and brought them to Orange County,” said Maureen Halahan, president of the partnership.
The OCP was not alone when working to secure Takasago as a new Orange County employer: Michael Oates of the Hudson Valley Economic Development Corporation, Morris Goldberg of McBride Real Estate, Welle and the village”™s municipal leaders were joined by the Orange County Office of Business Assistance, Rockland & Orange Utilities, Daylight Savings Co. and the Workforce Development Board. “This team met with the Takasago group to assure them Orange County was the right place to relocate to,” Halahan said.
The project will be an investment of $13.5 million over the next five years and begin with 75 jobs, expecting to reach 100 in the very near future. The company took 113,000 square feet in a building that offers an additional 36,500-square-foot expansion, is less than two miles from the intersection of Interstate 87, future I-86 and has Stewart International Airport within 20 minutes of its door. The location will offer Takasago easy access to the Boston-Washington corridor.
“This was literally the last company in Orange County that got into the Empire Zone program,” Halahan said. “We all worked very hard to make this happen. It is going to be a great asset to the county and it was a pleasure working with them. We look forward to being partners as they move forward with their plans to grow the company.”
For Morris Goldberg of McBride Real Estate in Central Valley, it was déjà vu working with the old Manhattan Beer Distributor location.
“It was originally built by Orange and Rockland, then they moved out and the last company that was in there, Manhattan Beer Distributors, moved because they outgrew the space. That”™s the kind of move you can be happy about because you know the company”™s growing. I”™m sure Takasago will be happy with its new space. The company had been looking at the site for some time, and because of the economy, they actually got a much better price on it now than they would have had they bought it two years ago ”¦ we persevered and so did the company, so all”™s well that ends well.”
Goldberg estimated the company”™s new location would be up and running sometime in the spring after interior renovations are completed. Bill Bushman, vice president of operations for the company, was unavailable for comment at press time.
