Read More by Gulfshore Business’ Tim Aten
Dialum, a Chilean company that processes glass for use in homes and businesses, has begun site work in Ave Maria for a 100,000-square-foot factory just east of Arthrex’s manufacturing plants.
This week, Naples-based Barron Collier Companies announced that Dialum finalized the acquisition of 10 acres for its U.S. headquarters in Arthrex Commerce Park along Oil Well Road just west of Ave Maria’s main entrance. Dialum Realty Inc. of Coral Gables purchased the acreage on Arthrex Commerce Drive for $2.5 million from Ave Maria Development LLP, part of Barron Collier Companies, according to Collier County property records. Miami-based Talba Group acted as Dialum’s broker during the transaction.
The $25 million plant in Ave Maria will be the company’s first U.S. glass finishing factory with groundbreaking anticipated in the first quarter of 2025. An expansion of an additional 60,000 to 80,000 square feet is anticipated in the future.
Dialum’s plant at Ave Maria will serve as a showroom where homeowners, window contractors and interior designers will be able to personally see the company’s glass applications and make custom orders. “A showroom is very important because people need to see, touch and try things before they buy them,” said Fernando Diez Vidal, director of Dialum, a family business founded in 1987 in the port city of Talcahuano, Chile.
Dialum buys ready-made sheets of glass from global suppliers and applies a variety of laminates and treatments using cutting-edge technology to add functional and aesthetic properties to the glass. Its products include hurricane-resistant impact glass, fireproof and bulletproof glass, anti-slip and shower glass and lacquered glass for wall and furniture uses. It also creates clear privacy glass, commonly used in conference rooms, which can become opaque with the touch of a switch, the company reports.
Following a yearlong search across Florida, Talba Group CEO Roberto Alvarez Vela said Dialum’s clear choice for its headquarters was Ave Maria because of its location, local workforce, Ave Maria University and the town, which is one of the top master-planned communities in the nation. The collaboration with Collier County’s economic development team and the support of Barron Collier Companies were crucial factors in reaching the final decision, Dialum reports.
“Choosing Ave Maria was an easy decision for several reasons,” Diez said. “First is its ideal location between Miami and Tampa, and only a short, straightforward drive to Port Everglades in Fort Lauderdale, where shipments of glass will arrive from suppliers. Secondly, Collier County offered our organization a monetary incentive, through the Ave Maria Innovation Zone and was very welcoming.”
Last August, Collier County commissioners approved $1.5 million in incentives to attract the Chilean glass manufacturer, which has a sizeable customer base in the U.S. and expects to employ 80 to 100 workers at its U.S. headquarters. To diversify the economy and boost economic development, the county created innovation zones in Ave Maria, North Naples and Golden Gate to lure businesses, headquarters and manufacturing plants.
Ave Maria’s zone—home to Arthrex’s manufacturing plant—has generated about $185,900 in taxes annually since its inception in 2010. In turn, those taxes can be used for incentives. Arthrex built more than 400,000 square feet of factory buildings on 35 acres there between 2013 and 2016.
At its build out, the 5,000-acre town of Ave Maria will have up to 11,000 residences and 1.8 million square feet of retail, office and business park uses.
