A Toronto-based developer has plans to open a glass manufacturing and storage facility in west Orillia.
On June 24, the City of Orillia entered a site plan agreement with Vandy Enterprise Inc. to develop 26 Nelle Carter Court, in the city’s Horne Business Park, for a glass branding, storage, and distribution facility, which could potentially bring dozens of jobs to the city in the coming years.
Property co-owner Ivan Rebello has decades of experience in the glass branding industry, creating branded glassware for a variety of global alcohol brands like Guiness, Molson, and others.
“You go to a bar. They offer you beer in a branded glass. We do that,” Rebello said.
He said the plan is to first build a storage facility before developing manufacturing capabilities on the site over the next three to four years.
“We’re hoping to get (the storage facility) completed, in place by middle to end of 2025, then we’ll stock it.” Rebello said. “We intend to buy the land opposite the city says is still vacant, and we start the same process, so it’ll take us probably about three, maximum four years.”
Rebello said he wants to move to Orillia for its comparative affordability to Toronto, where renting space for manufacturing operations has become “prohibitively expensive.”
“I’ve been looking at Orillia for about three or four years before I finally decided this is the place. It’s up and coming. It’s got universities close by, and it is highly affordable,” he said.
“I want to be there in a place where the company can grow, in leaps and bounds because of the space available.”
As it stands, Vandy Enterprise Inc. has entered into a site plan agreement for a 786-square-metre facility and an 86-square-metre office space at 26 Nelle Carter Court, and the development will bring a “sizeable contribution” to the city’s development charge reserves on top of bringing “additional job creation” to the city, said city staff in a recent memo to council.
