The Lee Company is embarking on two major expansion efforts in Westbrook that will provide increased and upgraded space to its employees as well as enable the company to add jobs over the long term. Founded in 1948, The Lee Company manufactures liquid control products for a wide range of industries, including aerospace, automotive, and medical and scientific equipment.

In 2018, the company purchased a building at 42 Pequot Park Road in Westbrook formerly used by IPC, which provides technology and services to the global financial industry. The building is just a short distance from the company’s existing 82 Pequot Park Road facility.

It is expected to cost roughly $5 million to convert the 80,000 square foot building to meet the requirements of one of company’s departments, which makes “plugs that seal holes of which there are several thousand in every airplane,” said Lee Company CEO William Lee.

Included will be factory space for the production of parts, office space for engineering and clerical work, labs, and inspection areas.

The space will also include a “sizable shipping area for us,” Lee said. “We have several buildings [on Pequot Park Road] and will be consolidating our shipping areas into one.”

The newly purchased building requires quite a few upgrades to bring it up to company standards after a long occupancy by IPC, according to Lee.

The project will entail “a total spruce-up of the building,” he said. “Better climate control. We’re redoing the floors; the HVAC systems are all being redone. It’s like a renovation to a house. It’s time to bring it up to date.”

In addition, the company will invest around $3.6 million to renovate one of the existing buildings at 48 Pettipaug Road to create an employee training center. Training rooms will vary in size in order to accommodate smaller groups as well as the entire staff of the company, Lee explained.

These additions and renovations come on top of the 100,000 square foot addition of its existing Pequot Park Road site, a 14-month project that was recently completed. Employees have moved into the added space.

“It’s not so much a move as it is making more space available for” the company’s industrial microhydraulics group, which makes parts for automotive and industrial purposes.

“We’re continuing to grow and hire more people,” said Lee. “Seven to eight percent a year would make us happy.

“We’ve been here a long time and expect to be here a long time,” he added.

According to Westbrook Building Official David Maiden, the new projects are expected to be completed by the end of 2020.