TORONTO, Ont. — IKO announced Friday that it plans to build a $70 million manufacturing and warehouse facility in Maryland.

The project is planned for Hagerstown and is expected to open in 2020.

It will be the company’s sixth U.S. manufacturing location. 

“Hagerstown is another example of IKO’s commitment to building the strongest and most state of the art production network in our industry,” said Guy Tremblay, vice president of North American operations, IKO. 

“No one in the industry has made the kind of investments in their manufacturing capabilities in the marketplace in the past 15 years that matches IKO,” Tremblay said. “We’re tremendously proud to be announcing this project and equally as proud to be able to become a member of the business community in Hagerstown.”           

The 500,000-square-foot manufacturing and warehouse site will mark IKO’s first new location in the northeast since it began its U.S. operations in Wilmington, Delaware in 1981. In 2018, IKO opened a 250,000-square-foot production and warehouse facility in Hillsboro, Texas. 

The new plant represents a $70 million investment for the company, which anticipates starting production in mid-2020, and will create 40 jobs locally by the end of that year.

IKO Representative Derek Fee told the Herald-Mail the Hagerstown location is a “great strategic location” because the company currently ships commercial roofing products to the East Coast from Toronto.

The new IKO site is located at 100 Tandy Drive in Hagerstown, which was the former home to a Radio Shack distribution warehouse.