Kent – On an unseasonably mild day in December, on a quiet street in Kent, a small group gathered to take a huge step forward for OASIS®Grower Solutions (OGS). While a new greenhouse had been on the minds of many at OGS for several years, the company recently broke ground on the much-anticipated, 3,500-square-foot, state-of-the-art greenhouse facility on the south lawn of the company’s Marvin Street headquarters in Kent. The small but influential group attending the ceremony included key members of OASIS® Growers Solutions and the Smithers-Oasis Company, as well as Kent Mayor Jerry Fiala, City Manager Dave Ruller, Economic Development Director Dan Smith, and Portage County Economic Dev. Board Member Sabrina Christian-Bennett.
“We’re extremely excited to take this step, demonstrating our commitment to our Grower Division and toward achieving our corporate goal of growth through science, technology, and product development”, stated Smithers-Oasis CEO, Robin Kilbride. The new greenhouse will be comprised of three interconnected units, each of which will be 24×36’ long, with a similarly-sized attached “headhouse”. This part of the overall structure will contain the main utilities (i.e., distribution panel, water-supply pressure tanks) needed to efficiently operate the new greenhouse.
“As we continued to work on many exciting new products for the North American and international markets, it became clear our existing greenhouse would not keep pace with our needs. A new greenhouse will allow us to continue our path forward as the leader in propagation media and better address our customer needs”, states Jim Daly, VP of Smithers-Oasis Corporate Research. While construction of the new OGS greenhouse will commence in the coming weeks, completion is scheduled for early second quarter.
OASIS®Grower Solutions, a Division of Smithers-Oasis Company, the brand choice of leading propagators for more than 40 years, is headquartered in Kent, Ohio. Its parent company, Smithers-Oasis Company, is the leading manufacturer of products for the floral industry.
