RIBBON CUTTING Gianni Santagata, 5, helps John Hazen White, Jr. (right) cut the ribbon on Taco, Inc.'s new, $20 million training center. Hazen White credited the boy with closely monitoring the project's year long construction progress. Photo by Steve Klamkin WPRO News

Taco opens $20 million training center in Cranston

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Posted: 6/21/2012 1:36:45 PM
Updated: 6/21/2012 3:53:44 PM

Heating equipment maker Taco, Inc. Thursday opened its new, $20 million Innovation & Development Center at its plant in Cranston.

Many of the company's 500 employees filled the new training center and watched on closed-circuit monitors as dignitaries, including Governor Lincoln Chafee and Cranston Mayor Alan Fung welcomed the new facility, and praised the company's commitment, and that of its owner, John Hazen White, Jr. to the city and Rhode Island.

"This is about taking Taco to a whole other level," Hazen White told the workers.  "Not only in growth and development, but in commitment." "This project was undertaken and completed for you." 

In a release, Taco describes the Innovation and Development Center as "a state-of-the-art learning and training environment, complete with new classroom spaces, conference rooms, a business center, and functional labs for testing and teaching".

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Taco, Inc.'s new, $20 million Innovation and Development Center
on Cranston Street in Cranston, in an image provided by the company.