A local company that makes stainless steel pools for clients all over the world plans to move from Wilmington to Leland over the next several months.

Bradford Products recently signed a lease with an option to buy for a 175,000-square-foot industrial building in Leland Industrial Park.

The facility gives the company room to expand, said Mike Brodeur, vice president of Bradford Products, which also makes stainless steel hot tubs, spas, steam rooms, saunas, reflecting pools, waterfalls and other custom specialty products.

“Business has been growing. We had an excellent 2014, and the work is more than our current facility can handle,” said Brodeur, who is the son of the company’s CEO, Dale Brodeur Sr.

Mike Brodeur’s brother, Dale Brodeur Jr., is the president and quality manager. Bradford Products employs more than 90 people.

Part of the company’s operations are currently at the new location at 2101 Enterprise Drive in Leland.

“Our goal is to get the machinery and equipment over there in the next six months to a year,” Mike Brodeur said.

Dale Brodeur Sr. founded Bradford Products in 1982 in Connecticut. The Brodeurs moved their business to Wilmington in 1995 and had a location in Dutch Square before buying the firm’s current location at 710 Sunnyvale Drive, off Carolina Beach Road.

If the company is able to sell the Sunnyvale property, it expects to buy the Leland building, which Bradford Products is leasing for an undisclosed amount, Brodeur said.

“We’re very excited to be moving down to Leland. It’s a fantastic building, and we’re looking forward to being able to move the entire company down to that area,” Brodeur said. “I think it’s going to open up a lot of potential to us. I feel it’s going to help bring our efficiencies into check, which will in turn relate to a more cost-efficient product, which I’m expecting will help us gain a greater market share.”

The property at 710 Sunnyvale Road includes 11.5 acres and a 68,000-square-foot facility.

Cody Cress and Tyler Pegg of the CRESS Group of Coldwell Banker Commercial Sun Coast Partners were the brokers involved in the leasing transaction and have listed the company’s property at 710 Sunnyvale Drive for sale at a price of $1.725 million.  

The Bradford Products fabrication process starts with design work completed by its engineering department. Workers use machinery to cut and shape the stainless steel before the pieces are welded together to form a vessel that holds water and can support itself, Brodeur said. Then Bradford employees complete the tiling and plumbing for the vessel before it is shipped, often on a flat-bed truck, depending on the vessel's size.

Customers include homeowners and businesses, and while a majority of the company’s orders come from large cities outside the area, the firm created the second-floor outdoor pool at the Courtyard Marriott in downtown Wilmington. Bradford has also made products for homes on Bald Head and Figure Eight islands.