FERGUS – Hammond Manufacturing will be the first business in the new Fergus Business Park.
The township and company made the announcement at the site, at the corner of 1st Line and Dickson Drive, on June 20.
“We got wind of this (business park) before the lots were for sale and had conversations with George (Borovilos, manager of economic development for Centre Wellington),” Hammond executive vice president Alex Stirling told the Advertiser.
“We wanted to be the first business on this land. It will be close to our existing facilities and a great opportunity for us.”
The Fergus Business Park has been in the works for at least six years.
The previous council agreed to purchase the 45-acre parcel of land in 2020 and broke ground on the site for servicing in October 2022.
Dickson Drive now goes all the way from Gartshore Street to 1st Line and the lots have been serviced.
Council recently reaffirmed its decision to sell the land for $450,000 an acre.
Hammond bought an 11.5-acre lot and expects to hire 100 people once the building is constructed.
Mayor Shawn Watters thanked the previous council for its foresight in purchasing the land and its vision for what a business park would mean to Centre Wellington.
“Previous council decided we needed to have this area to grow the business community,” Watters said to the small crowd. “Your vision got this thing going.”
Former Mayor Kelly Linton and former councillor Neil Dunsmore were in attendance, as well as the township’s former CAO, Andy Goldie.
They were integral to making the vision come to life, Watters said.
Stirling said Hammond Manufacturing, with its home base in Guelph and locations in Waterloo, Aberfoyle, Buffalo, the U.K. and Palmerston, is in growth mode.
“We’re excited to expand into Fergus,” he said, noting once the building is constructed and work starts coming off the line, he expects to hire about 100 employees at the Fergus site.
Hammond Manufacturing Company Limited manufactures a broad range of products for the electronic and electrical products industry, including metallic and non-metallic enclosures, racks, small cases, outlet strips, surge suppressors and electronic transformers.
In Fergus they will be making electrical enclosures and will need everything from general labourers to welders, electricians, millwrights and design engineers.
Dunsmore is now chair of the township’s economic development advisory committee.
“No one knew if we serviced the land that they would come,” he said. “Hammond is the first domino. We think others will come.”
Jim Gibbons, mayor in the 1970s, said he’s been lobbying for the township to buy and service employment lands for almost 50 years.
“I’m very happy to see this,” he said. “We need to create jobs in the township.
“And if the township can make a profit, too – there’s nothing wrong with that.”
