WOODSTOCK – After 17 years in Huntley, a small paper manufacturer plans to move north to Woodstock, as part of a business expansion within a city looking to fill its vacant industrial areas.
Guy Spinelli, owner of Guy’s E.Paper Company, said he will soon start a $2 million investment that converts a portion of the former D.B. Hess property in Woodstock to fit his manufacturing business, once he closes on the property in May.
The move would give Spinelli more space for his business and could move his 28 full-time employees into Woodstock by late summer.
He credited city officials’ proactive approach as the main reason why he wanted to move from Huntley, along with better railroad access and lower costs.
“We like the community of Woodstock because they are business-friendly and they appear to want to take care of their citizens,” Spinelli said. “That’s what drove us to Woodstock.”
Spinelli said he plans to hire between seven and 12 additional full-time employees within the first year of the move to Woodstock. Three years after the move, he hopes to have 60 full-time workers employed, he said.
Spinelli's move into Woodstock also fills an industrial space left vacant for nearly two years, after commercial printer company D.B. Hess shuttered its Woodstock operation and put roughly 130 people out of work in summer 2013.
The $2 million investment Spinelli has planned will nearly quadruple his current space.
He said he plans to occupy an 80,000-square-foot portion of the former D.B. Hess property, after his company completes numerous renovations.
Woodstock City Council members earlier this week also helped encourage the move. The council waived an estimated $15,000 in building permit fees to help offset the company’s renovation costs, city officials said.
Spinelli also intends to apply for the city’s revolving loan program, which would make him the program’s first applicant.
Officials created the program a few years ago to offer interested developers low-interest loans designed to help them relocate or expand, said Cort Carlson, community and economic development director.
Spinelli’s move brings additional jobs into Woodstock and helps make the D.B. Hess building more marketable to prospective developers, he said.
“Over the last couple of years, we’ve lost major employers, and this is a great first step to filling some of those vacant buildings,” Carlson said.