Over the past six months, seven Wallingford companies broke ground or announced plans to construct multi-million dollar expansions that will increase their real estate holdings in town. BYK USA Inc., an international manufacturer of chemical additives for the plastics and paint industries, held a groundbreaking for the construction of a 56,000 s/f, $47 million, 3- story office and production facility adjacent to their current plant at 524 South Cherry St. According to Roland Peter, chairman of BYK's management board, the expansion was part of the firm's goal to grow in the North American market and to manufacture more products locally. The expansion will allow BYK to triple production and add 37 new jobs to their current workforce of 95 people.
APS Technology, one of the fastest growing tech companies in Connecticut, broke ground for a 20,000 s/f addition to their current facility at 7 Laser Ln. This expansion followed the recent leasing of an additional 26,000 s/f of manufacturing space at 6 Northrop Industrial Park Rd. APS manufactures measurement-while-drilling, rotary steerable and vibration management products for the oil and gas drilling industries.
APS currently employs 155 people and plans to increase their employment to 278 people by 2015. APS has repair, maintenance and sales facilities in Houston, Dubai and China.
NUCOR Steel, one of the largest steel producers and recyclers in America, recently broke ground for an 18,000 s/f addition to their facility at 35 Toelles Rd. The addition was necessary to support the installation of a $16 million reheat furnace and the construction of a 186-ft emissions stack. According to Dan Needham, general manager, the improvements will allow NUCOR to improve energy efficiency and production and will be operational by May of 2013.
One local distributor, GET Corporation, recently relocated across town from a 5,000 s/f warehouse into a 24,000 s/f warehouse at 1068 North Farms Rd. GET Corporation is an international distributor of water filtration and purification equipment with offices in Wallingford, Jordan and Saudi Arabia. The move will allow the firm to expand distribution and increase production of its filtration products. GET Corporation was started by Wallingford resident, Gary Fappiano and his partner, Mohamad Amour of Amman, Jordan.
Wallingford's office market is also experiencing growth. In 2010, Anthem Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Connecticut announced plans to relocate its Connecticut headquarters into Wallingford and signed a 10-year lease with developer Workstage-Connecticut to occupy 217,764 s/f at 108 Leigus Rd., known as the Campus at Green Hill. In September of 2011, Anthem relocated 500 of its employees into 70,000 s/f at the campus. This September, following the completion of tenant improvements, Anthem relocated an additional 1,000 employees into the remaining 147,000 s/f of leased area at the Campus at Green Hill.
In addition to Anthem, Edible Arrangements, whose corporate headquarters is at 95 Barnes Rd. in Wallingford, recently purchased an adjacent 23,057 s/f office building at 97 Barnes Rd. "We're running out of space in our current building," said Kamran Farid, co-founder and COO of Edible Arrangements. "Our call center is growing." Edible Arrangements, which opened its 1,000th store in Cranston, R.I., was recently named one of Inc magazine's "10 Most Promising Franchises." Sales grew 19% from last year. The company has 150 employees in Wallingford.
Less than a year after completing the construction of a $20 million environmental center, officials at Choate Rosemary Hall recently announced plans to construct a $17 million math, robotics and computer science building. The new center will be constructed on North Elm St. and will be connected by a footbridge to Choate's science center. The new building will provide space for Choate's successful robotics program and also allow the school to add new curriculum in science, technology, engineering, art and mathematics. Construction is scheduled to commence in the fall of this year.
For more information on what Wallingford has to offer, visit www.PlugIn2Wallingford.com.

Doreen DeSarro is the business recruiter for the Town of Wallingford EDC.