Dean Bogden, bench operator at Valbruna Slater Stainless Inc., packages stainless steel bars to be prepared for shipment. Staff photo by Michelle Davies
An Italian steelmaker is investing $30.5 million in its local factory, creating up to 45 new jobs over the next three years, officials announced Friday.
Valbruna Slater Stainless will build a 166,000-square-foot addition onto an existing building on its campus at 2400 Taylor St. and renovate two adjacent buildings. Construction is expected to be complete by the end of 2015. The investment also includes new equipment.
Tiziano Briozzo, the firm’s local general manager, said the building addition is being constructed on the ground where the old melt shop stood before it was demolished at the beginning of this year.
Valbruna bought the property in 2004 from a bankrupt Slater Steel Inc., investing millions in buildings and equipment. The company quadrupled its testing lab there in 2010 with a $1.5 million investment.
A steel foundry was first opened on the near-downtown site in the 1890s. The campus drew 1,500 workers daily at the height of operations.
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