It's official: Agri-Plastics is coming to Sidney

Agri-Plastics if officially coming to Sidney.

The Ontario, Canada, based plastics manufacturer will join Lukjan Metal Products LLC at One Greenwood Road, a $4.5 million investment.

Sidney City Council approved the facility sub-division at its Sept. 26 meeting.

Agri-Plastics will close on its deal with Lukjan at the end of this month, Melissa Norgard, economic development director, said.

"They are going to initially hire around 20 people and hope to start operations late January or February," Norgard said. "It's a super-exciting opportunity."

Agri-Plastics manufactures plastic calf hatches for dairies.

"It's a growing business. They have a lot of business on the front range of Denver, they have big clients in Idaho," Norgard said. "They make other plastic-type products, too, and they're hopefully going to expand here in Sidney."

Nebraska Department of Economic Development has been working with Agri-Plastics CEO Darren Van Buuren for more than a year.

The company had outgrown its two facilities in Ontario, Norgard said, and Sidney was mentioned as a possible site to expand its growing operations.

"Kris Benson (Nebraska DED recruiter) mentioned Sidney because she had actually been on a tour of the open buildings and available land out here earlier last year," Norgard said. "She knew there were both buildings and land available and to ask if he had ever thought of expanding into Nebraska, which he hadn't."

Van Buuren and Agri-Plastics representatives toured Sidney in June to see available existing sites and land offerings for potential development.

"They really liked the town," Norgard said. "They were impressed by the people they met while they were here. They liked the options they had. When they toured the newly purchased Lukjan building on Greenwood they determined the back half of that building would suit their needs."

She added, "Purchasing a larger space down here gives them the opportunity to expand their business and continue to grow their business in the United States."

Agri-Plastics will apply for city LB840 funds in the future, Norgard said.

"They are still trying to determine the exact number of jobs they're going to start out with and what their total payroll will be for those jobs," she said. "Once they determine that hopefully in the next six weeks or so they'll fill out their application and we'll determine how we can help them out."

The arrival of the plastics manufacturer will have a positive impact on Sidney's economy, Norgard said.

"Between them and Lukjan looking to move here, start operations and then continue to expand, it's really exciting," she said. "It will bring good things to Sidney."