TORONTO — Officials with TIMET Friday discussed ongoing efforts to expand the Toronto facility with help from city officials.

Corey Checkan, the plant’s general manager, was joined by Ken Pugh, project engineer for TIMET, and Chris Burich, engineering manager at the Toronto plant, to discuss the plans, which are expected to involve millions of dollars in additional equipment and warehousing facilities.

Checkan said about 25 acres currently occupied by the plant aren’t enough to accommodate the addition, so the company has bought an adjacent 14.8 acres.

He said several pieces of equipment have been transferred from the company’s Wentzville, Mo., service center, with more to follow to allow the Toronto facility to meet a rising need for titanium in the aerospace industry.

Checkan confirmed the demand necessitated the addition of about 100 staff a few years ago. He said though the need waned during the pandemic, when fewer people were traveling by plane, commercial airlines appear poised for a comeback.

“The aerospace industry is going to return and when it does, we want to be ready,” he said.

Checkan said it’s too early to comment on additional jobs the expansion may create.

In addition to supplying titanium for commercial airliners and various industrial uses, TIMET provides materials for aircraft and other vehicles and equipment used by the military.

Checkan said to comply with government security regulations, the company needs the city to vacate Titanium Way, the plant’s access road, so it can be closed to through traffic.

Doing so would eliminate access to four homes on the road, so plans have been made to extend Nebo Drive to them.

Mayor John Parker noted residents there also can be served by water and sewer lines the city plans to extend to the TIMET addition.

“We have people there who want (public) water and sewer who would never get it if not for this development,” he said.

Parker noted the efforts coincide with a planned housing development near Nebo Drive, which he and others hope will boost the city’s population.

He said when Toronto Council members approved the city’s application for a $1.6 million loan from the Ohio Water Development Authority for a quarter-mile extension of water and sewer lines, they knew it was to support economic development though a confidentiality agreement with TIMET prevented them from openly discussing it.

Checkan said the expansion has been eyed for five years, and TIMET’s decision to announce its plans at this time was spurred by misinformation spread through social media.

“There is a vision here. That’s why we’re coming here to dispel rumors that are circulating,” he said.

Parker said the company’s official confirmation of its plans will make it easier for the city to pursue other state funds, available for economic development, to complete the water and sewer line extensions.

He said engineering for them has been completed.

The mayor said the TIMET expansion will benefit the city in several ways.

As a major water user, it will generate revenue for its water treatment system while TIMET’s upgraded facilities will help to cement its status as a leading employer in Toronto, he noted.

Parker noted the Toronto plant has seen two major additions in recent years, with $50 million invested in a leveling and annealing line and $80 million in the rolling mill currently under way.

“As these expansions were going on, TIMET was employing a lot of local contractors so the spinoff was critical to companies in this area,” he said, adding, “That kept a lot of people working during COVID.”

Chekan said of the newest addition, “We plan to be here for a while. This is a big phase for us. How do we take it to the next level?”

He said the plant has the capacity to produce 20 million pounds of titanium per year.

Founded in 1950 as the Titanium Metals Corp. of America, the company purchased the Toronto plant, a former Follansbee Steel facility, in 1956.