New business coming to tech park

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PRINCETON — The Princeton Technology Park should have a new resident by mid-summer.

At Monday’s meeting, the Princeton City Council adopted an ordinance to proceed with a sale agreement with McKeown International Inc. to buy Lots 16 and 17 on the far east corner of the tech park. The purchase price is $21,000 for the lots, which cover three acres of land.

After this week’s council meeting, Mayor Keith Cain said McKeown is a global company which deals with small manufacturing. The company plans to be in operation by mid-July.

According to the company’s Web site, McKeown International is a family-owned business that has serviced the needs of metal and furnace industries for more than 20 years. Its products include consumables to the steel, foundry, glass, cement and non-ferrous industries. The company also provides engineering, manufacturing/fabrication and construction services.

McKeown’s U.S. corporate headquarters are located in Round Rock, Texas, with international offices located in Mexico, Spain, China, India and South Africa.

Princeton Zoning Officer Pete Nelson described the global company as well-diversified, with a number of industries from construction to steel.

“They’ve been looking for a Midwest location to service their customers from coast to coast. They got wind of our tech park and came to a couple meetings and decided this would be a suitable place for locating their company,” Nelson said.

At this point, it’s unsure just how many persons the new company will employ because it’s not yet clear how much of the company’s operation will be relocating to Princeton, Nelson said.

Cain said McKeown is not yet releasing certain information, including the number of expected employees because that decision could affect some of its other existing operations.

In addition to McKeown International, there is also another global company which is considering purchasing property in the tech park, Cain said. Officials from that company should meet within the next couple weeks with city leaders to discuss the possibility.

With McKeown and another potential buyer, things are looking up for the development of the tech park, Nelson said.

“We have reason to be a little optimistic this year,” Nelson said.

The 70-acre Princeton Technology Park was annexed into the city limits in 1991, with Phase 1 of the development starting in 2003 and Phase 2 completed in 2007. The only business currently located in the tech park is the Bureau County Republican, which moved to the tech park in 2004. Coqui Products, a specialty animal breeds food production business, bought a lot in the tech park in 2006 but has since put its lot up for sale.

On Tuesday, Nelson said an estimated 55 acres remain available in the tech park. The remaining acres are divided into 14 lots, with sizes varying from 1.5 acres to 4.5 acres.

In other activity at the tech park, the city will drill four new wells this spring for the city’s water treatment plant. Three wells will be located on the north property line of the tech park, with the fourth well to be located on Ace Road, just north of the Bureau County Republican.

On Tuesday, Superintendent of Water Mike Eggers said drilling for the new wells should start within the next couple weeks. Each well will also have a 17-foot by 23-foot well house, which is about the size of a two-car garage, he said. The brick well houses should be built this summer.

The water department will also install a backwash lagoon just north of the new water tower in the tech park, with seven lime collection lagoons to be built on the east end of the tech park, Eggers said. That work should be completed by the end of the year.

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