Darrel Silvey says that expanding his Chattanooga manufacturing company in a pandemic isn’t a big problem as most of its business is in the growing medical and laboratory equipment sector.
“We planned it a long time before it ever hit,” he said on Tuesday while standing in front of a Centre South Riverport tract where construction has started on a new 20,000-square-foot home for Silvey Metal Works.
The company bought a 2.7-acre parcel at the Riverport, where the 81-year-old founder, owner and president is looking to relocate and grow the business in a $2.5 million project.
Silvey said plans are to shift the entire venture, which he started in 1969, from its longtime East 11th Street location to the new facility off Amnicola Highway.
He said the aim is to nearly double the number of employees from about 12 to 20. Some 95% of the company’s business these days is fabricating stainless steel for lab equipment, Silvey said.
Dillard Construction Inc. is expected to take about six months to ready the building at 2901 Riverport Road, he said.
“It’s convenient,” Silvey said about the Riverport site that’s just minutes away from his residence. “We looked at several others.”
Pat Neuhoff of Neuhoff Taylor Architects, which is designing the Silvey Metal Works project, said he has known Silvey for a number of years and recalled when he first approached the businessman while seeking a donation to the YMCA.
“He gave what I asked for and he doubled it,” Neuhoff said. “When business got better he doubled it again. I knew he was going to be successful.”
Hamilton County Mayor Jim Coppinger said he has known Silvey for decades, going back to when he was fire marshal and the business was making restaurant equipment.
Staff photo by Troy Stolt / Darrel Silvey, owner of Silvey Metal Works, speaks during a groundbreaking ceremony for Silvey’s new manufacturing plant that will be built at 2901 Riverport Road in Chattanooga.“I always knew when he did a job, it was done right,” the mayor said.
He cited Silvey’s continued investment and creation of family-wage jobs.
“I’m excited he’s going into a county industrial park,” the mayor said.
Coppinger said that just one tract, about 10 acres, remains available at the Riverport.
He noted that a 56.4-acre tract in Centre South is where Southern Champion Tray announced in August that it plans to invest nearly $85 million in a new facility. That Chattanooga-based company expects to create more than 120 jobs converting paperboard into packaging products.
Coppinger said that while space at the Riverport is low and land is becoming more limited at Enterprise South industrial park in Tyner, the county continues to do its due diligence related to the 2,100-acre McDonald Farm near Sale Creek.
Officials are assessing that parcel that sits off U.S. Highway 27 for use as an industrial park and recently agreed to fund an appraisal and geotechnical assessment.
Silvey said his company tries to provide a place for employees to make a living for their families and themselves in a secure and caring environment.
“We are committed to providing quality products and services at competitive prices while building relationships with our customers,” he said.
Contact Mike Pare at mpare@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @MikePareTFP.
Staff photo by Troy Stolt / Members of the Silvey Metal Works team along with Hamilton county Mayor Jim Coppinger break ground during a ceremony for Silvey Metal Work’s new manufacturing plant in Chattanooga at Centre South Riverport.