EnWin Utilities' historic downtown Windsor building is being sold to a local technology firm.
The utility company announced Friday morning that it has sold its headquarters at Ouellette Avenue and Elliott Street West to Tessonics Inc, a Windsor-based developer of products for biomedical and industrial applications.
With EnWin shifting its operations to its Rhodes Drive compound, CEO Helga Reidel said Friday afternoon that it is gratifying to see another cutting-edge business take up space in the downtown core.
"We were very pleased to be able to bring the business case in the form that our board of directors wanted," said Heigel. "As well, it satisfied city council as we found out earlier this week."
Joe Udzbinac, chief operating officer of Tessonics, said the location's history factored greatly into the purchase.
“This great building, with its rich history and downtown location, is very important for us,” said Udzbinac. “The opportunity to continue to grow our infrastructure and to stay in the heart of Windsor is essential to maintaining our international status, and the continuous stream of visitors coming from the USA and abroad.”
Tessonics is expanding by adding staff from the University of Windsor, St. Clair College, and other institutions. It has also made investments in two Windsor start-up companies.
The next step is to prepare the downtown employees for the move to Rhodes Drive. She also pointed out that the move from downtown won't be completed until sometime next year, due to renovations planned for Rhodes.
"We believe our staff will move not before mid-2020 and we hope to get all of that work done by then," said Reidel. "It'll certainly be a challenge because we'll be renovating while we still occupy the Rhodes facility."
The historic Windsor Utilities Commission building currently holds about 100 EnWin employees, and Reidel said the 40,000 square-foot space is too large, out-of-date and underutilized.
