PONTOON MAKER CONTINUES EXPANSION
Gratiot County’s largest private sector employer maintains buoyancy on construction project
Gratiot County’s largest private sector employer continues to expand.
Avalon & Tahoe Manufacturing Inc., located at the corner of Michigan Avenue and Bridge Street in Alma, is in the process of constructing a new 38,600-square-foot multipurpose building at 725 E. Superior St., just southwest of the main plant site.
The company is already the third largest pontoon manufacturer in the world building about 6,000 boats a year.
The property was previously owned by Alma Products Co. that operated a small auxiliary factory at the site.
The old building was demolished in November to make way for the new structure that’s currently under construction. Completion is expected sometime in April.
The project also includes an 8,000 square foot office that will remain and connect to the new building.
The site is zoned limited industrial, which permits such uses as manufacturing, fabricating and warehousing.
The entire lot size encompasses a total of 278,000 square feet.
The city commission had previously approved expanding Avalon & Tahoe’s Plant Rehabilitation District and Industrial Development District to cover the new site, which allows the company to receive tax breaks for the project.
Avalon & Tahoe has undergone several major expansions during recent years after moving to Alma in 1984 and later being purchased by current President and CEO Jim Wolf and partners in 2000.
At that time the plant had 70 employees and about 80,000 square feet of manufacturing space.
It now occupies about 340,000 square feet and employs more than 500 workers.