Firm locating regional HQ in Schenectady

PHOTOGRAPHER: Steve Jacobs

The site of the new Argo Turboserve Corporation (ATC) building is seen on Tuesday.

Argo Turboserve Corporation (ATC) will occupy a new 22,000-square-foot building under construction next to the Marcella Appliances showroom on Lower Broadway and bring a total of 30 jobs to the area during the next three years.

Metroplex Development Authority and Schenectady County and city officials announced Tuesday that ATC had decided to grow its operations in Schenectady’s Broadway Commerce Park. The $5 million building will contain lab space and offices for the company, which is based in Lyndhurst, N.J., and manufactures equipment for nuclear and fossil-fueled power plants. The company has facilities in 14 states and Italy.

President and CEO Clyde D. Keaton said the company was trying to decide whether to expand at its Tennessee facility or in Schenectady, where it has a 7,000-square-foot office on Erie Boulevard. It was attracted by the well-educated work force in this area.

“We could best serve our customers and use the high-tech talent you have in this area to make ATC grow faster,” Keaton said at a ceremonial ground breaking on Tuesday.

The company has 15 employees in Schenectady currently and will increase that number to about 30 in the next three years, Keaton said.

Keaton has roots in the Capital Region. He worked in General Electric’s plant as a steam turbine engineer and later was a vice president with the company. He earned his master’s degree from RPI. He also met his wife Marion in Schenectady, when she was visiting the area to see her sister, whose husband worked here.

Keaton founded ATC in 1997. It has three divisions working on mechanical and electrical equipment for nuclear and fossil-fuel power plants, aerospace technology and industrial equipment. It provides parts, equipment, services, testing and engineering solutions.

Keaton explained that the company reverse-engineers a lot of the equipment that these plants have and can no longer get parts for from the original manufacturer.

The company purchased Spectrum Technologies in 2004 and tripled in size.

There are about 15 people at the Schenectady location, with three brought on in the past six weeks. He said engineers make in the $60,000 to $100,000 range annually and technicians make from $30,000 to $60,000, Keaton said.

This new Schenectady facility, located just off Interstate 890, will be bigger than its Tennessee location, Keaton said. It will contain a 5,000-square-foot laboratory with the rest of the space for offices and warehouse.

This location will serve as the hub for the Northeast, Keaton said.

Highbridge Development and Plank Construction is building the new facility, which should be completed in August. ATC has signed a 10-year lease.

Highbridge CEO John Roth said he is proud of what his company has helped to accomplish in Schenectady.

“This will be the 15th project that we have completed in the city of Schenectady with an investment of over $35 million,” he said.

ATC is investing $1.5 million in the project. The Metroplex Development Authority is providing a $150,000 grant and Empire State Development a $100,000 grant toward the initiative.

“They could have built this new facility anywhere. We’re grateful that they chose Schenectady County,” said Schenectady County Legislature Chairwoman Susan Savage, D-Niskayuna.

Savage said it is sometimes difficult to imagine what that section of Lower Broadway used to look like and credited the success to the county’s efforts to work together in economic development.

“This area was once filled up with abandoned and derelict buildings,” she said.

Mayor Brian U. Stratton also said he was glad the company is setting roots in Schenectady.

“We’re making it happen right here in New York’s original Tech Valley,” he said.