New company breaks ground at Lockhart Industrial Park

By LPR Staff
Editor/POST-REGISTER

Construction has begun on the fourth building in the Lockhart Industrial Park, and a new business should be operating by March 2008.
According to City of Lockhart Economic Development Director Sandra Mauldin, Southern Powdercoat has committed to construction of a 6,000-square-foot facility in the Lockhart Industrial Park

and plans to be open for business in the spring.
“They won’t be manufacturing,” she said. “Instead, they will be finishing products already manufactured.”
The powdercoating process is a method of applying decorative and protective finish, primarily to metal products, according to a release submitted by Southern Powdercoat co-owner Jennifer Fruth.
“Color selection is virtually unlimited, with high and low gloss, metallic and clear finishes,” the release said. “Standard coatings include fluorescent, metallic, textured, hammered-look, wrinkle, candy color, as well as all standard finishes.”
The process, according to Fruth emits “virtually no volatile organic compounds,” which are gases and certain solids and liquids emitted as a byproduct of certain processes and are known, in some cases, to produce adverse environmental and health effects.
During a short groundbreaking ceremony on Tuesday afternoon, Fruth and her business partner, David Nichols, along with the rest of Southern Powdercoat’s staff, was welcomed to the Lockhart Industrial Park. Their facility, when complete, will be located at 215 E. Martin Luther King Industrial Blvd.
Southern Powdercoat will inhabit the fourth building in the Lockhart Industrial Park. The park is already home to Northern Video Systems. Construction is still ongoing for Margarita’s Tortilla Factory and American Pew and Bench.
According to recent information from the City of Lockhart, most of the property in Lockhart Industrial Park which is not already under construction is under negotiation for sale or development. Some city officials speculate that the park – which sat dormant for some time, leading some to refer to MLK, Jr., Industrial Boulevard as “The Road to Nowhere” – should be fully developed and occupied before the end of 2008.