AUBURN — Blair Construction & Fabrication gained visibility for its role as one of the Central New York firms making a beacon for the top of the One World Trade Center tower in New York City, according to its vice president. And soon, there will be more of the company to see at its headquarters. […]
AUBURN — Blair Construction & Fabrication gained visibility for its role as one of the Central New York firms making a beacon for the top of the One World Trade Center tower in New York City, according to its vice president.
And soon, there will be more of the company to see at its headquarters.
The manufacturer is in the middle of adding a building at its home of 284 North St. in Auburn. The new structure, which is already taking shape, stands next to the company’s existing 35,000-square-foot facility. It will add an extra 5,000 square feet.
That space is necessary because Blair Construction & Fabrication is growing, its vice president, Blair Longo Jr., says.
“We’re rushing to get it done,” he says. “We’re going fairly quickly.”
Work started on the new structure about a month ago. Longo hopes to have it finished and filled with equipment in June.
Essex Structural Steel Co., Inc. manufactured the new facility. The structural steel company, based just south of Cortland, makes pre-engineered buildings.
When the building is up and running, Blair Construction & Fabrication plans to increase its staffing. It wants to hire between eight and 10 workers, according to Longo. The firm currently has 17 employees.
The new structure will probably cost between $600,000 and $800,000, Longo says. Blair Construction & Fabrication is paying for the expansion using its own cash. Longo’s cost estimate includes the price of equipment.
New equipment is likely to include a 500-ton press brake — a machine for bending metal. And the company wants to install a new powder-coating system and an overhead crane system.
Blair Construction & Fabrication will keep its current press brake, a 250-ton model, in its existing facility. It will also keep water-jet cutting equipment that was used heavily in fabricating components for the World Trade Center beacon.
Making the beacon required working with a variety of materials, according to Longo. They included stainless steel, aluminum honeycomb, and mirror-finished aluminum.
“Everything had to be really precise,” Longo says. “And the honeycomb was a real different material.”
The chance to work on the beacon project came after J.R. Clancy, Inc. of Van Buren was hired to create it. A third Central New York company, TDK Engineering Associates, P.C. of Camillus, took a major role managing the beacon’s construction.
Blair Construction & Fabrication manufactured the beacon components in December and January, Longo says. Mounting the beacon atop the tower had been scheduled for late February or early March, but it has been pushed back to the beginning of April.
The Auburn fabrication company has a long relationship with J.R. Clancy that has led to it manufacturing catwalks and trusses for theater lighting. Such projects are in its area of expertise, which is working with metals such as steel. It specializes in stainless-steel and aluminum manufacturing, according to Longo.
“We do a lot of industrial stuff,” he says. “Custom conveyors, we’ve got them all over. We do cutting edges on motor buckets and stuff like that.”
The construction side of the business involves concrete work for the steel structures it manufactures. It also includes industrial painting.
Longo declines to share revenue totals. But he says the company wants to grow sales by as much as 25 percent in 2013.
His father, Blair Longo, owns the company and its headquarters.