BOARDMAN, Ohio – Humtown Products plans to refurbish a building that once housed an office products business at 7825 South Ave. and expand its operations in Boardman.

“We wanted a permanent building,” says Mark Lamoncha, Humtown president and CEO. The idea is to convert the space into a packaging and distribution operation for its sand core molding business, while adding an educational component to the operation, he says.

Plus, a showroom at the rear of the building will provide a location for Futuristx, a local company that distributes the Proto Hologram, a series of holographic devices made by California-based Proto Inc.

Lamoncha Real Estate Holdings LLC, a Humtown affiliate, acquired the 30,000-square-foot building for $1.8 million, according to public records. The sale was recorded Oct. 29.

Last year, Humtown purchased the former Gorant’s chocolate manufacturing building on Market Street in Boardman. The building is now used for Humtown’s additive manufacturing division, where the company 3D prints sand cores used in the metals casting process. Humtown operates its more traditional sand core manufacturing plant in Columbiana.

The South Avenue building will be used to store packaging materials that it ships to both locations. The site will also sort recycled packaging material and send it to the Columbiana and Market Street plants.

Humtown leases a building in Leetonia and wanted a more central location for the packaging storage division.

Lamoncha says the front of the South Avenue site will be used for what he calls Career Yo “U” – a program that introduces young people to careers in manufacturing and new concepts. “We want to help ourselves and other companies see the value of bringing these young adults in and connecting them and to find that career,” he says.

A third use of the building will be a Proto Hall of Fame. Earlier this year, Lamoncha and business partner Jeff Hedrich launched Futuristx, a distributor for Proto Inc.’s holographic devices. Proto manufactures booths and desktop-size units that can transmit live images of an individual or display an item in a 3D format. The technology is enhanced with artificial intelligence.

Futuristx will occupy the rear of the building where it will showcase Proto’s holographic technology. The Futuristx showroom currently occupies the front space of Humtown’s Market Street location.

“We’re very excited about the Futuristx Proto Hall of Fame,” he said.

Pictured at top: The front of the building will house Humtown’s Career Yo “U” program.