Deborah Johnson Wood
Ron McKey says his engine parts wholesale business at 728 S. Division Ave. has vacant buildings on all sides and a plot of polluted land to the north where American Cleaners used to be. But he's decided to keep the business where it's been since 1984 and keep jobs in the urban core by adding a 3,000-square-foot expansion.
The Perfit Corp., which operates under the trade name
Engine Pro Distribution Center, specializes in engine components only. The company's Grand Rapids headquarters is currently 19,000 square feet. With locations in Livonia and Cincinnati, Ohio, Perfit employs 27 workers company-wide.
"Business is good and we need more room," McKey said, following this week's
Grand Rapids Planning Commission meeting where the expansion was approved.
"We could put the money into moving to a real nice location and we could probably come out better financially," he says. "But we've been there for a long time and our customers know where we are."
McKey told planning commissioners that he spent $10,000 in 2009 alone, painting over gang tags on the property – and the effects only lasted about a month. But he's determined to stay and keep the jobs in the city.
"We've been struggling for a long time in that neighborhood to make it down there and we're comfortable there," McKey says.
McKey and his wife and business partner, Susan, did not speculate if the expansion will mean more jobs.
Source: Ron and Susan McKey, The Perfit Corporation
Deborah Johnson Wood is development news editor for Rapid Growth Media. She can be contacted at [email protected]. Development News tips can be sent to [email protected].
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