Lebanon Manufacturer Seeks to Establish Claremont Facility
Claremont — The building off River Road that was constructed for a water bottling plant but never occupied soon could have a new owner.
Lebanon-based New Hampshire Industries has submitted an application with the Claremont Planning and Development office for a site plan amendment to establish manufacturing at 35 Connecticut River Bend Road.
Claremont’s website lists the application on the Planning Board’s Nov. 23 agenda.
Ice River Springs, with U.S. headquarters in Morganton, N.C., bought the property in 2007 for $500,000 and built a 138,000-square-foot building a year later, but never moved in.
The company instead opened a facility in Massachusetts. The Claremont building sits on 25 acres.
According to New Hampshire Industries’ website, the company is a manufacturer of pulley systems and has been in business since 1968. Its products have a variety of industry uses, including lifting systems, power transmissions and outdoor power equipment. The company also has locations in Mexico, China and Wisconsin.
Claremont assessing records show the Ice River Springs building assessed at nearly $3 million, with the land valued at $240,000, for a total assessment of more than $3.2 million.
The property has been listed for sale, with the one-story building described as “excellent” quality with about 3,300 square feet of office space. It is connected to city water and sewer with four 1,000-gallon propane tanks installed underground.
Officials with New Hampshire Industries, located on Etna Road in Lebanon, could not be reached for comment Friday.
Use of the building would be another piece of good economic news for Claremont, which is seeing its Syd Clarke Industrial Park property, also on River Road, developed after years of inactivity.
A new trucking facility for Claremont’s Jewell Transport is under construction and there is a proposal to build a new 56,000-square-foot location for North Country Smokehouse in the park next summer.
In March, North Country was sold to a Canadian company, Les Specialties Prodal, and plans for the new facility were revealed three months later.
Patrick O’Grady can be reached at pogclmt@gmail.com.
