Rotterdam highway structure firm’s growth in fast lane

PHOTOGRAPHER: Bethany Bump

A company in Rotterdam that builds and installs highway signs and bridge and guide rails has plans to expand its office and shop space along the Mohawk River.

EMI Guide Rail LLC will invest $255,000 in a renovation and expansion at its 6,600-square-foot facility, located at 693 River Road next to the Rotterdam Kiwanis Park. The expansion will allow the company to add two jobs — one in administration and one in construction — to its existing roster of 26 employees.

“We are seeing a lot of business and we needed more room,” said company manager Ellie Kittle Ingalsbe. “It’s a good problem to have.”

The Schenectady County Industrial Development Agency approved the expansion Wednesday as well as an exemption from sales and mortgage recording tax on the project.

“They don’t have to pay the 8 percent sales tax on building materials used to renovate,” said Metroplex Chairman Ray Gillen. “And then with the mortgage recording tax exemption, they’ll save like $25,000 on the project. It’s a tool that the IDA will use when it sees a business has plans to keep growing.”

EMI Guide Rail was founded in 1998 and started off with just four employees. Its specialty is building and installing bridge and guide rails, highway signs and structures, grading and shaping existing roadsides, excavation and disposal, forming and trimming new graded surfaces and installing fill.

The company has worked for state agencies, local governments, commercial developers, retailers and airports across the state. Its projects include guide rail replacements in Warren, Essex, Livingston and Wyoming counties; the Walkway Over The Hudson in Highland; and the University at Albany’s NanoFab West expansion.

In 2004, it built its current facility in the town of Rotterdam under the supervision of the now-dissolved Town of Rotterdam Industrial Development Agency. The upcoming expansion will add 1,500 square feet of office space. First Niagara Bank will finance the project.

“Growing our business in the town of Rotterdam has been a very good experience for us,” said Ingalsbe in a news release issued Wednesday. “The town and IDA staffs have been extremely helpful on a number of occasions, and we look forward to continuing these relationships in the years ahead.”