Army Reserves leaving Hurley Industrial Park

HURLEY - To reduce costs, the U.S. Army has decided to merge several Reserve units around the country, including closing the 312th Engineer Company in Hurley.

The Reserve unit has been housed in the Hurley Industrial Park for more than 30 years and has rented the training center from the Iron County Resource Development Association, Inc.

"The development corporation built the building and it was designed specifically for the Reserves," said Jack Giovanoni, president of the ICRDA. "Because of the design and the variety of different spaces in the building, we are going to have to be a little creative on finding a re-use."

The building has about 15,000 square feet, consisting of classrooms, a training hall, storage areas, kitchen and offices.

There is also about 2,800 square feet of maintenance and garage space for working on heavy equipment, all sitting on about 4.3 acres of land in the industrial park.

"The ICRDA Board of Directors has been discussing several options to re-use the training facility," said Kelly Klein, coordinator for the ICRDA.

"The board has made it clear it will consider all proposals, but they have had discussions on a couple of options the building is suited quite well for," Klein said.

According to Klein, one of the options is to keep it a training center, but instead of the Army, the facility could be used to train the workforce. "Technical training for today's workforce has been a priority for Gov. Scott Walker and the state legislature," said Klein. "In fact, many of our area employers have expressed difficulties in finding qualified employees.'

Klein has had discussions with several state officials about the possibility of creating a technology center to complement other educational institutions. "Although there seems to be a need, it may take awhile to put a project like this together," he said.

Besides a technology training center, the ICRDA has also discussed the possibility of housing several smaller businesses in the building. "Because of how the building is laid out, there could be different spaces leased to different businesses, like office space, space for light manufacturing, storage and mechanical or shop space," Klein said.

The Army Reserve unit will be completely out of the building in November and both Klein and Giovanoni said the board will continue discussions on creating other business opportunities.

The ICRDA has been in existence since 1963 and has been instrumental in developing the Hurley Industrial Park, now home to 16 different businesses, employing more than 300 people.

For more information on the Army Reserve building, contact Klein at 715-561-2922.