By Jessica Dinapoli
Times Herald-Record
Published: 2:00 AM - 12/16/12
TOWN OF WALLKILL — A Swiss engineering company plans to move into the vacant Delfino Insulation Co. building on O'Haire Road as soon as possible.
The company, MCT Consult, is coming to the area because it likely will help build the new Tappan Zee Bridge, owner Roland Murer said.
MCT Consult works as a subcontractor for contractors participating in each of the three competing bids on the project, Skanska USA Civil Northeast Inc., Tutor Perini Corp. and Traylor Bros. Inc.
New bridge design, builder to be chosen
The New York State Thruway Authority is expected to award a contract to build the new Tappan Zee Bridge during its meeting Monday. Three competing consortiums have submitted designs and bids for the project, with prices ranging from $3.1 billion to $4.1 billion. For more information or to view the designs, go to newnybridge.com.
MCT Consult is among a handful of companies drawn to the area because of the bridge, said Orange County Partnership President and CEO Maureen Halahan.
Town of Wallkill a good fit
The Swiss company, which manufactures components for tunnels, bridges and power plants, plans to eventually employ as many as 30 people in the 20,000-square-foot building, according to documents filed with the Wallkill Planning Board.
There will be a public hearing on the project in January.
It is not yet determined how much the company will invest in the new building, but the structure does not need much work, said Meghan Taylor, the director of business attraction for the Partnership.
MCT Consult plans to assemble some of its products in the back parking lot of the building, according to the Planning Board documents.
The board is asking for a noise study and brief traffic analysis because the area around O'Haire Road is mostly residential.
MCT Consult now rents factories in Newark, N.J., and Pennsylvania, Murer said.
Murer, looking for a location not too far from New York City, had focused on New Jersey, but the Town of Wallkill building was a good fit, he said.
The Orange County location — which is visible, but not directly accessible from Interstate 84 — is also reasonably close to MCT Consult's steel supplier in Bridgeport, Conn., Murer said.
Murer has not yet closed on the building, which is listed for sale at $1.25 million.
NYC subway projects
The approximately 10 MCT Consult employees working out of the company's New Jersey location will commute to the Town of Wallkill, but the six workers in Pennsylvania will not, Murer said.
He will hire replacements for those workers, plus up to a dozen more, he said.
Murer is also hoping to win a contract for work repairing a leaking tunnel carrying drinking water into New York City. The tunnel runs under the Hudson River.
MCT Consult first came to the U.S. about three years ago to do work on the New York City subway system, Murer said. The company still works on the subways.
About 45 percent of the company's work is in the U.S., and the rest is in Europe, including Norway, Russia, Italy and Portugal.
