The Enid News and Eagle, Enid, OK

Local news

Related Photos

  • Mid-Continent Packaging is planning to expand its current building by 82,000 square feet and hopes to add 50 to 80 jobs. (Staff Photo by BILLY HEFTON)

    Mid_Continent_BH.jpg

Discussion

July 6, 2011

Mid-Continent Packaging is looking to expand size of business, add clients

By Joe Malan, Staff Writer Enid News and Eagle

ENID — While a local firm looks to expand its business in Enid, the company also is trying to figure out ways to attract more potential clients.

Mid-Continent Packaging, a 135-employee corporation that specializes in packaging chemicals, is trying to get as high a LEED certification as it can so it can do business with companies looking for an environmentally-friendly packaging company.

LEED stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design. It was developed in 2000 by U.S. Green Building Council to help building owners and operators identify ways to incorporate “green” and efficient designs into their buildings.

Company co-owner Larry Epstein said environmentally-responsible packaging is one of the main concerns of the Enid company, and a LEED certification helps forward that goal.

“We think (environmentally-responsible packaging) is the future,” Epstein said.

Epstein said Mid-Continent Packaging is looking closely at trying to get a high LEED certification, so planned expansion at the business is being delayed for a short time while those avenues are being explored.

“In addition to looking at the incentives the state of Oklahoma and Enid are offering, we are trying to put the puzzle together of what we need versus what LEED needs versus what’s needed to be good citizens of Enid,” Epstein said.

Mid-Continent Packaging currently occupies 220,000 square feet of land on North 54th, just north of East Chestnut and a little less than a mile north of U.S. 412.

Plans are to expand the building by 82,000 square feet and to break ground on that project sometime this quarter.

As a direct result of the expansion, Mid-Continent Packaging officials hope to add between 50 and 80 jobs.

“It’s very hard to guesstimate at how much jobs you’re going to be adding so fast,” Epstein said. “We may find with the LEED certification that more people come knocking on our door.”

Enid Regional Development Alliance Executive Director Brent Kisling said Mid-Continent Packaging got approval for $3 million through the state’s Economic Development Power Pool Finance program. The money will help offset some of the company’s construction over the next 20 years.

“It’s only the fourth project in the state that’s been funded through that program,” Kisling said. “That will help them be more cost-effective in their expansion.”

Text Only
Local news