PHOTO BY JOHN FRYMAN / THE VILLAGE REPORTER
EXPANSION … Artesian of Pioneer is currently constructing a new 6,000-square foot office facility in the former Universal Industrial Products building in Pioneer. It’s scheduled to be completed by this summer.
By: John Fryman
THE VILLAGE REPORTER
john@thevillagereporter.com
Having already outgrown its present home office, Artesian of Pioneer is undergoing a $1.4 million project for the construction of a new 6,000-square-foot home office for the 62-year-old company.
According to Artesian of Pioneer president Ed Kidston, plans for the project started about three years ago, but the company faced obstacles in obtaining funding, delaying construction.
Kidston, who also serves as the mayor of Pioneer, had wanted to apply for tax abatement, but doing so created a conflict of interest given his role in local government.
“We were asked actually by the Ohio Legislature to submit a bill to make it legal, because it should be okay for a mayor to invest in his hometown,” said Kidston.
The bill passed the legislature but was vetoed by Gov. Mike DeWine, setting the project back about a year and a half.
“That puts us behind about a year-and-a-half of building it. We have had the building setting on the ground over there,” Kidston said.
In the meantime, Kidston received a call from Neil Marko, who was then the owner of Universal Industrial Products of Pioneer.
Marko told Kidston that he was retiring and that his kids, despite being approached over the previous 10 years about buying the business, were not interested.
Marko then made the decision to close his business, and Kidston eventually purchased the 85,000-square-foot building.
Kidston said the company had originally planned to build a 20,000-square-foot building but instead purchased the Universal Industrial Products building. “It was a great deal, but the office is way too small,” he said.
“Now we’re adding on to the east side of the original office that we were going to build.”
Kidston admits that it’s been a three-year process but is now moving along with the construction, which is scheduled to be completed by this summer.
The contractor for the new office project is Solid State Steel LLC of Middlefield, Ohio. Artesian of Pioneer has already moved into the former Universal Industrial Products building, using the back half of the facility.
Kidston has also rented the front half of the building to Altenloh, Brinck & Co., another expanding business in Pioneer, which uses the space as a warehouse.
Artesian also has offices in Maumee, Ohio, and Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
“We’ll close the Maumee office later this year when we get into this one,” said Kidston. “We’ve already expanded here with engineers and office personnel, but we’re cramped big time for space.”
Artesian of Pioneer, which was founded by Kidston’s parents, R. Bruce and Clara Kidston, in 1964, is a design-build water treatment company serving municipalities, townships and counties with water systems throughout the eastern United States.
“We’re now serving the whole Eastern United States where we have water plants going in a dozen states,” said Kidston. “We’ve worked more towards a design build type of business philosophy that creates more upfront needs as far as engineers and office people.”
Currently, the business has several ongoing water treatment plant projects in multiple states, including one in Illinois, two in Indiana and four in Ohio.
“We specialize in county and municipal systems, usually less than 60,000 people and that’s kind of our niche in the market,” said Kidston. “We are well-known now and have a lot of attraction and got some new products coming out online.”