Construction begins on new Case-IH dealership in Neepawa

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Published on Tuesday, July 22, 2014

By: Kate Jackman-Atkinson

myWestman.ca

Last Thursday, Rocky Mountain Equipment officially broke ground on its new location in Neepawa.  
The new dealership and service centre will be located on Highway 16, east of Neepawa. The ground breaking ceremony brought out staff, customers and suppliers.

The new 26,400 square-foot building will be a pre-engineered steel structure. Approximately half of the area will be devoted to service while the other half will be devoted to sales. Travis Leduc, general manager of Agriculture Sales at Rocky Mountain Equipment, explains that the area is about the same as the current location, but will offer greater efficiencies, especially in the service department.

“We're really excited about coming to the community and making a long-term investment in the market,” said Leduc.

The new building will also feature a nicer showroom for equipment and parts display. Leduc said that the modernized shop will feature overhead cranes and allow them to service all farm machinery.  He added that they plan to carry more inventory.

“We're incredibly excited to show our commitment to the community,” said chief operating officer Garrett Ganden.

Ganden explained that when the current location was offered for sale, they decided not to buy it, but instead to build new.

“With changing technology and equipment, to be successful, you need to be state of the art... We want to make sure we are at the forefront,” he said.  

He added that the new shop will help them serve customers today, tomorrow and into the future.

Excel Construction, out of Brandon, will be overseeing the construction. They plan to use local trades in the building's construction.

Neepawa mayor Bill Stilwell was on council when the property was purchased by the Town of Neepawa about a decade ago to meet future development needs.

“Council is excited. It's been a long time. Today we see sod turn for the first actual tenant,” he said.
He added that the new building will have a positive spin off for the town as customers come from other communities.

The sod turning ceremony also featured an announcement regarding a new partnership between the 4-H program and Rocky Mountain Equipment.

Clayton Robins, the Manitoba 4-H council executive director, announced that RME would become a program sponsor for 4-H, resulting in three new scholarships and two new travel opportunities for 4-H members.

Construction for the new building is expected to be complete in mid-February.