Wabash Communications Co-Op held an open house and ribbon cutting with the Greater Salem Chamber of Commerce on Wednesday to open its new 1.1-million-dollar facility at West Whitaker and South College in Salem.
CEO/GM Barry Adair says the new facility will have several purposes.
“We’re expanding all the time,” Adair said. “We try to keep our equipment and our materials all in one place, and it was hard to do at the other facility. It was just small. Now we’ve got our office, and we keep our inventory and our employees all in the same building now in Salem. That was a big deal.”
Wabash Communicaitons CEO/GM Barry Adair. Photo by Bruce Kropp.
Adair says the Salem office will be the hub for expansion in Marion, Jefferson, Clinton and Fayette Counties. It will also serve as the location customers can pay their bills and seek service information.
Adair reports nine to ten employees will work out of the Salem office. With the main office in Louisville, Wabash currently has 110 employees.
Adair told those gathered for the ribbon cutting that if a customer wants it, the company is built on service, and if a customer needs help, they will send help in the middle of the night to solve the problem.
New Wabash Communicaitons Facility at West Whitaker and South College. Photo by Bruce Kropp.
For Salem, Mayor Nic Farley says this ends a ten-year process to get the large property redeveloped following a fire that destroyed the old Brown Shoe Company building.
“It’s great to see a site revitalized, especially with such a great partner like Wabash Co-op,” Farley said. “Being a tech guy myself, I can give them a huge endorsement for our community. When we try to recruit businesses and people for our community, having high-speed fiber right here in our community is such a great addition, and it’s even more beneficial when it’s such a great company like Wabash.”
Right now, Wabash Communications Co-Op is able to offer 2 GIG service and when the demand is there will be able to go to 10 GIG service.
Adair says once all of the TV and Internet Equipment is moved out of their old office location on East Main Street in downtown Salem that building will be put up for sale.
Wabash Communications employee Kari Linder at a work desk in the new office. Photo by Bruce Kropp.
Floor of the new Wabash Communications facility. Photo by Bruce Kropp.
