Linita Design and Manufacturing, a Canadian metal manufacturer serving large-scale applications, has selected Lackawanna, New York, for a new facility. Access to American markets, reduced shipping costs, and avoiding border crossings with trucks that are sometimes too heavy for bridges attracted the company to the United States.

"This is a good win for Lackawanna and the Buffalo Niagara region as a whole, and it shows that we're a viable alternative for Canadian manufacturing companies," said Thomas A. Kucharski, president and CEO of the Buffalo Niagara Enterprise, an economic development agency.

Linita will invest more than $1.7 million and create 35 jobs as part of the expansion. It will occupy a 69,500-square-foot site that formerly housed Integrated Terminals. The company also considered Pennsylvania for the project, but selected the New York site for its existing overhead cranes.

The company produces gates and hoists for hydropower dams and makes more than half of its sales to the United States.