Canadianpond.ca in midst of $3 million expansion
Company owner Mario Paris, left, poses with employee Marc Loiselle, who is supervising the construction of the new building.
Canadianpond.ca Products Ltd., a Knowlton-based company that specializes in water and environmental quality worldwide, is constructing a new, larger building close to its current location on Knowlton Road. The company
bought the building and lot that was owned by Stone Haven, the stone landscaping business. The expansion is a $3 million investment.
Canadianpond.ca is celebrating its 15th anniversary.
“We ran out of space about three years ago,” owner Mario Paris said in an interview in his office Friday morning. “We had to move.” The company has owned its current building since 2006.
Paris said the most logical place to relocate would have been near the highway, like at the site of Eastern Townships Docks in Foster. But, he said, the company started in Knowlton where much of his staff lives. Staying in Knowlton makes it more convenient for his employees. “And it would have been a loss for the town.”
Paris said he acted when he found that the Stone Haven property was for sale.
“We had to demolish the building,” he said, because it was too small but it is a good setting and allows the company to stay in Knowlton.
Paris expects to open at the end of May and have an open house shortly after. The contractor, NGA of Drummondville, is on schedule and on budget, he said.
The new building will provide a larger storefront and more office space.
Canadianpond.ca had 14 employees, but since the expansion began has added four more.
The building the company now uses is 7,000 square feet. The new one is 13,000 square feet in its footprint with another 3,000 square feet of office space on the second floor. There will be a rooftop terrace for events, Paris said.
There is a large pond behind the building. And there will be a larger yard for trucks.
Canadianpond.ca began in 2003 to complement Paris’ Les Etangs PPM, which until 2006 specialized in building ponds. PPM started in Mansonville in 1997, Paris said. The company built large ponds, and even small lakes. Paris said the company would build 30 to 40 a year.
“But there are stringent regulations for building ponds,” he said. “We had to diversify the business.” Canadianpond.ca no longer builds ponds. Currently, the company provides customers worldwide with aeration systems, de-icing systems, and bubble curtains with Paris’ trademarked Bubble Tubing. He invented and developed the tubing after two-and-a-half years of research and development. The products are made in Ontario.
The company also markets biological treatment products, like beneficial bacteria that clean pollution by reducing organic nutrients in ponds and lakes. And it carries products from other companies like floating islands that purify water, create wildlife habitat, and provide shade for fish; aquatic weed management tools; and “hypolimnetic aeration technology” for deep lake and reservoir aeration.
“It’s a milestone for us,” Paris said of the company’s 15-year anniversary, “but it’s also the beginning of a new era because we will live in this space.” He said he thinks Canadianpond.ca will expand again in a few years.
Meanwhile the company will keep the current building. He said he could lease it. But he is keeping some equipment there.
Paris is optimistic about the future.
“We have some great people working here,” he said. “I believe the company will outlive us. The future is good for Canadianpond.”