ROCKINGHAM — U.S. Senator Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., Vermont Gov. Phil Scott, and local officials joined Paul Millman, president of employee-owned Chroma Technology Corp., on Nov. 8 to celebrate the completion of a $22 million expansion that will add or retain 133 jobs.
According to a news release, the event concludes pre-development and construction at the Chroma facility at 10 Imtec Lane and included a tour of the newly expanded facility.
In 2016, Chroma - an optical filter manufacturer that distributes its product all over the world - was approved by the state for a 37,000-square-foot expansion to its facilities, adding about 25 new jobs as well as allowing Chroma to retain its existing 113 jobs in the region.
Prior to the expansion, the growing manufacturer had been struggling to increase capacity in its existing space. Chroma is not only one of Rockingham's largest employers but is an employee-owned company, “meaning every employee is a Chroma shareholder with a generous salary and benefits package,” according to the news release.
Many key players
The company has been exploring options for more space for a number of years, including a brief flirtation in 2014 with the idea of building a new facility on the Island in Bellows Falls, on the site of the former Robertson Paper Mill.
Ultimately, Chroma expanded on its current site in a project that is the culmination of almost two years of work by the company, Brattleboro Development Credit Corporation (BDCC), the Agency of Commerce and Community Development (ACCD), the Vermont Economic Development Authority (VEDA), and the town of Rockingham to ensure that the company expanded its business in Rockingham.
To support Chroma staying in Rockingham, BDCC provided what the company described as critical regional project development leadership, spearheading the pre-development and development efforts necessary to advance the project.
Ultimately, BDCC led the effort to ensure adequate capital was available to support the expansion project, and worked with ACCD and the governor's office to secure funds for the project.
Eventually, four different local and state funding sources were used: a loan from the town of Rockingham, funding from the Windham County Economic Development Program, a grant from the federal Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program, and a loan from VEDA.
The total combined investment in the expansion project, which also includes tax credits and private lending, is approximately $22 million.
'Committed to staying'
“The completion of this expansion project is a major milestone for Chroma,” said Millman. “Our original building was just 12 years old, but already no longer large or modern enough to meet the evolving needs of our global customer base.”
Millman said the company, established in 1991, was “committed to staying” in Rockingham and “ultimately opted to expand at our existing location, despite the challenges it presented, rather than pursue options outside our community.”
While he said it “took some creativity and compromises to make it work, we now have a modern, lean manufacturing facility, one that will allow us to continue to serve the scientific and medical device communities that made our growth possible as well as accommodate Chroma's future growth for years to come.”