Commercial tire centre expands.

• Author: GOULIQUER, DIANNE
• Position: Fountain Tire - Brief Article

An estimated $2 million will be spent on a new commercial tire centre in Thunder Bay later this year when Fountain Tire amalgamates its two existing facilities.

The new 25,000-square-foot full-service commercial centre is set to go up on Fort William Road at the corner of Burbidge Street, Fountain Tire manager Darcy Hunter says. Construction will begin as soon as plans are approved by the city.

Fountain Tire, with over 140 stores from Thunder Bay westward, is celebrating its 45th anniversary this year. To mark the occasion the company is building the commercial centre which will incorporate the services of its two current Thunder Bay locations - a tire store on Bay Street and a tire retread station on Gore Street - and expand to offer mechanical and alignment services for passenger vehicles and light- and heavy-duty trucks.

The new facility will also have an on-site warehouse, Hunter adds.

Presently staff are forced to make several trips each day to a separate warehousing spot.

Hunter, who came to Thunder Bay last year specifically to plan and oversee the project, says staff and customers alike are excited for the project to begin. Even contractors are eager for construction to start.

"I already have a list of contractors who are willing to jump right in on the contract," he says. "I've had at least eight people submit applications to do the work."

Fountain Tire recently purchased a two hectare lot from Auto Auctions, a used car dealership, for the commercial centre. The property is already zoned heavy industrial, but Hunter says there are still a few details that need to be worked out with the city, such as landscaping.

"The city says it wants to help get things going quickly," he says. "If I'm in by the fall I'll be pretty happy."

Construction, he says, will likely take six months or less, and aside from the jobs the construction phase will create, the company plans to hire another seven people to staff the bigger facility.

"We'll more or less double the number of employees we had in February of (2000)," he says...