Local companies honored for new production facility

CLOVERDALE -- An effort to buy local on a 2015 building project garnered a nationwide award for two Putnam County companies.

H & L Enterprises of Marion Township and Midwest Calcium Carbonates (MCC) of Cloverdale were honored by Chief Buildings as one of the company's top new buildings of 2015.

General contractor Doug Lawson of H & L Enterprises, the local Chief dealer, recently presented the honorable mention award to Dana Boyd, co-owner of MCC.

The building in question is a 20,500-square foot facility that stands 50 feet high in the production area.

MCC is a division of North American Limestone Corp. (NALC), which also owns 243 Quarry and 243 Lime. These facilities all lie south of Putnamville on State Road 243.

In particular, MCC produces calcium carbonate industrial filler product that can be used in products such as plastics, sealant products, caulk, coatings, polymers, building products, rubber goods, paint formulas, adhesives, paper and household products.

Boyd said that after a year of production, they hope their product will be certified for use as an animal feed filler.

The building is a fine grind facility producing micron-size fillers from the limestone found in the area. The 180-acre property on which the building sits will eventually be occupied mainly by a limestone quarry.

It all marks quite a change from the agricultural field the area used to be.

"We took this from being a bean field to an operating facility in about 5-1/2 months," Boyd said, adding that the plant has been operational since November 2015.

One of the goals Boyd and co-owner Greg Gould had was to buy local as much as possible.

In that effort, they worked with Reelsville Water Authority and Endeavor Communications to extend utility services to the area. They also worked with Duke Energy to install LED lighting in the building.

They also made sure to hire Lawson and H & L, a Greencastle contractor.

"When I met with Dana and Greg they said use as local of people as you can," Lawson said. "As far as I know, except for a couple of doorknobs from China, everything came from the state of Indiana."

Local contractors on the job included Civil Engineering Consultants, The Gould Group/Mary Gould, Pipemasters Plumbing, Joe Custis Excavating, Perkins Service, Thomas Garage Door Sales Inc., A/M Glass Inc., Baker's Septic Service and Jack's Trash Service, all of Greencastle; Gehring Concrete and Joe Harrell Contracting of Cloverdale; and Swisher Plumbing of Coatesville.

Other in-state contractors were Alt & Witzig Engineering Inc. of Carmel, MC2/Greg Smith P.E. of Lafayette and Dyer Construction Co of America Inc. of Oaktown.

Greencastle-based Cash Concrete was also a major supplier in the project.

Lawson said the judges at Chief take size and complexity of a building into account when choosing the award winners.

"It's not overly complex, but it's also not a basic building," Lawson said.

One of the not-so-basic parts is the height, which is a new record for Lawson.

"Part of this is 500 feet tall," Lawson said. "It was on my bucket list to build something this tall."

Another factor that likely impressed the judges is that the structure is built for future changes and expansion. Although the production area is 100 feet by 100 feet, only about a 40-by-40 area is being used currently.

Even when this area is occupied, there is already infrastructure in place a 10,000-square foot production area expansion.

"We planned for expansion and growth but tried to be fiscally responsible up front," Boyd said.

The honorable mention award means the structure fell short of Building of the Year distinction from Chief, but still made the top 10 of more than 200 entries.

"It wasn't Building of the Year," Lawson said, "but it's knocking on the door."

Based in Grand Island, Neb., Chief has one of its two production facilities in Rensselaer. The company manufactures metal building systems for commercial and industrial applications to specific customer requirements. Local dealer H & L Enterprises can be reached at 765-246-6835.