The heavy rains of May made for a muddy worksite where Percival Scientific is building a $2 million, 33,000-square-foot expansion of its factory in the Perry Industrial Park. Grimes-based Septagon Construction is the general contractor for the project.
The expansion of Percival, which manufactures high-end incubators and plant growth chambers, adds about 60% more production space to the current 50,000-square-foot footprint. Percival Scientific President and CEO Gary Wheelock said the bigger plant will also allow the addition of about a dozen workers to its present 80-person staff.
The company issued a public notice in March of the intended stormwater discharge associated with the construction work, and the Perry City Council approved a parcel subdivision April 19 that provided a lot for PEDI to create a regional stormwater detention pond near the site.
The PEDI pond was dug just in time to catch the heavy rains that fell on the the Perry Industrial Park, which lies within the Beaver Creek Watershed.
According to Scott Renaud of Renaud Engineering LLC, who designed the park’s stormwater plan, a regional runoff system “is preferred in lieu of each individual lot creating its own detention pond” because it allows “lots to be ‘ready to go’ and not require individual stormwater management plans.”
Construction of the Percival addition is expected to be completed by the end of the year.
