$15M Ross expansion is on track for spring 2021 ground-breaking

Concept drawing of the new Ross Video expansion. – Courtesy photo

MORRISBURG – Just over one year ago Ross Video announced plans for a $15 million expansion to double the size of its Iroquois manufacturing facility.

And then the COVID-19 pandemic happened.

Soon after the state of emergency was declared in March a decision was made to delay the planned expansion for a year.

Jeff Poapst, vice-president of manufacturing told The Leader that the reasons for the one-year delay are three-fold.

Firstly, once the pandemic was declared, new construction was closed, thus deferring the potential project start.

Secondly, deferring the start a few months would shift the construction window, causing some of the work to move to winter. “That would increase costs and complexity,” said Poapst. “We’d like to get the building envelope up and fully enclosed before winter, and we’ll need the full summer to to that, we think.”

Thirdly, there is uncertainty about the influence of the pandemic on the global economy, on Ross’ customers and on Ross’ markets.

Because of that Poapst said, “We felt we should conserve cash until we had a better understanding.”

In the months since their initial decision they are gaining a better understanding of the situation.

“While we’ve made a number of adjustments to work schedules and locations, all of our staff have remained with us and our products and services are in demand,” said Poapst.

“As a result, we’re restarting the work to prep for a spring 2021 ground-breaking on our original design, with the intent that we occupy in late 2022.”

“Our scope is unchanged, although we are reviewing our actual needs for office space, considering the success we’ve had by moving to a work-from-home model around the world,” added Poapst.

Since you’re here…

… Thanks for reading this article. Local news is important. We hope that you continue to support local news in your community by reading The Leader, online and in print. Please consider subscribing to the print edition of the newspaper. Click here to subscribe today.

Subscribe to Email Alerts

Enter your email address to subscribe to Email Alerts and receive notifications of new posts by email whenever The Leader publishes new content on our website.