Packaging Corporation of America (PCA) broke ground Friday for a $33 million manufacturing and distribution plant in Ninigret Industrial Park at 2100 S. 4800 West.
Construction is scheduled to begin next week on the 252,000- square-foot facility located on a 24.5-acre site at Ninigret, an extension of Centennial Park, one of Salt Lake City's largest business complexes.David K. Holbrook, PCA's Salt Lake general manager, said the new building will be the first constructed in the park by an owner/
user.
The new plant will make shipping containers, printed packaging and retail displays from corrugated containerboard. It is scheduled to be completed and oper-ating by December. PCA serves Utah, Idaho, Wyoming and Nevada from Salt Lake City.
PCA is the nation's fifth-largest maker of corrugated containers and a variety of other paper, aluminum foil and plastic containers for the food industry. Based in Evanston, Ill., it is a subsidiary of Houston-based Tenneco Corp.
An existing PCA plant at 460 W. 500 South will be upgraded during the construction, said Holbrook, and a PCA specialty container plant at 4520 W. 2100 South will be moved to that location. Another division of PCA operates a folding carton plant at 825 W. 2500 South.
When the new facility is on line, said Holbrook, PCA will have 260 employees working in its three Salt Lake plants.
Randolph G. Abood, developer of Ninigret Park, said the complex is a 178-acre extension of Centennial Park. He noted that in addition to access to all freeways, it will also link up with a new extension of California Avenue being undertaken by Salt Lake City. The roadwork will extend California Avenue west from the Bangerter Highway to 5600 West, skirting Ninigret Park.
Abood said two new buildings are under construction at Ninigret on a speculative basis. One is 156,000 square feet and will be available for occupancy by summer. A second 150,000-square- foot building will be available in the fall. Commerce Properties Inc. of Salt Lake City is the leasing agent.