Lustre Products is staying in Chilliwack after combing the Fraser Valley for a suitable expansion site.
Construction on a new 60,000-square-foot building will be underway in the next year.
Lustre Products is a family-owned manufacturer of high-quality elevator and escalator components.
A site search was undertaken with the help of Chilliwack Economic Partners Corporation and city officials.
"This is good news for any business, but it increased pressure on the company as they tried to manage growth in their current location," said CEPCO president Brian Coombes.
Lustre reps saw "significant sales growth" in the past two years — the upshot of "an ever-expanding product mix."
The company has been operating for 25 years in the Fraser Valley, and 15 of those years were in Yarrow.
They decided they had to move from their current location and build anew.
A search was undertaken across the Fraser Valley, with industrial locations considered in Surrey, Langley and Abbotsford, as well as Chilliwack.
“The support and advice we received from CEPCO during this important time for our company has been very valuable,” said Troy Cooper, Lustre Vice-President about the site search process.
In fact it was pivotal.
“This support combined with the business friendly approach at the City of Chilliwack was instrumental in our decision to invest in a new facility in Chilliwack.”
The location in the Highway #1 Business Park was found to be ideal.
"Chilliwack offered the best opportunity to build what we wanted," said Cooper.
Construction and business relocation by Lustre is expected to be complete by the end of 2017.
"It's exciting," said Cooper.
Lustre reps said they expect to break ground on Progress Way by the end of September, and to start building a new state-of-the-art building designed by CHP Architects, with RAM Construction as construction manager.
"We are very happy to be growing in the City of Chilliwack, and feel fortunate to be maintaining a leadership role in what we do," said Cooper.
The market for Lustre's fabricated elevator/escalator components is "stable and growing," he said.
"We're very optimistic," about the business friendly elements Chilliwack offers.
Those factors "cemented" the decision.
Officials say the land east of Lickman Road has been selling like hotcakes recently.
It's a busy time in the business park, with 'sold' signs popping up, and lots of construction underway.
"Over the past 15 months in Chilliwack we've seen incredible demand for the industrial land," said Coombes.
It's a combination of factors, he noted, everything from supply and demand, affordability, and quick turnaround time offered in Chilliwack.
"It all contributes to a great investment climate," he said, adding that similar conditions influenced Molson Canada officials, with their decision to move to Chilliwack and build a new brewery.
Lustre Products will employ a staff of 60 by the time the new facility is ready to go. That's an extra 20 employees added to the 40-member workforce.
Most of the personnel lives in the Chilliwack area, which contributed to the decision to stay.
"It's a significant business for our community, and we are happy they are staying," Coombes said.
Business retention is equally important to CEPCO as new business attraction, he added.
The new Chilliwack facility will also be prominent and visible from the highway.
"So we recognized it would be important to have a facility that's attractive and looks good from the exterior," said Cooper.
Lustre Products was the winner of the Manufacturing Award at the Chilliwack Chamber of Commerce Business Excellence Awards in January.
The new building will be constructed on 3.25 acres at 43650 Progress Way in Highway #1 Business Park, joining neighbouring companies such as Kal Tire, Clean Energy and Westeck Windows.