The Sumter Development Board is privileged to announce that one of Sumter’s locally owned and operated companies is growing and expanding. Ending a decade-long search, Tom Garrity is preparing for a cross-town move that will ensure enough room for his business to grow.

G&G Metal Fabrication, currently located in a 12,000 square foot facility in Sumter, S.C., will relocate to a 33,000 square foot facility that will give the business the elbow room it has so long sought. G&G Metal Fabrication manufactures emergency response vehicles like fire trucks and ambulances, among other things.

“We’re extremely excited to finally be at the end of this process,” said Tom Garrity, president of G&G. “Finally we’ll be able to expand, be more efficient and bring a little order to what now sometimes seems like chaos.”

In his current leased facility, Garrity sometimes has to meet with business prospects in the shop for lack of meeting space. Parking is always at a premium and he has never had a place to display the 23-year-old company’s wares.

But an even more important need was an on-site place to test the water-pumping equipment that will one day be used to fight fires. The new facility, formerly owned and operated by Wilder Brothers, offers nearly three times the space, including 6,000 square feet of office and showroom space. There is also a 1-acre storm water retention pond that will allow the company to test pumps on site.

Financing for the project was secured through a partnership of both the private and public sectors. The National Bank of South Carolina (NBSC) teamed with the Regional Development Corp. of the Santee Lynches Regional Council of Governments to offer Garrity the funding needed.

Garrity said he never really considered leaving Sumter, although his customers are spread all over the state and the Southeast.

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