The technology to print digital photos 10 feet wide and 18 feet tall in 15 minutes is now in Gahanna.

Solar Imaging, a custom printing facility specializing in wide formats, recently added $500,000 in equipment to its Taylor Road facility, giving the company options to entice new clients and increase its revenue stream.

"This (new printer) is environmentally friendly and can print on anything you can think of," said company chief executive officer Jeff Burt, mentioning wood and fabrics as examples.

Burt said he started Solar Imaging in 2001 as a spinoff of his photography business, Eclipse Studios, founded in 1997 in his garage. The two businesses meshed well, Burt said, providing the capability to capture a digital image with his camera and print it in a large format for a client to hang in a restaurant or on a large outdoor wall. Some of his clients include Victoria's Secret, Bath & Body Works, White Castle and Donatos.

The expansion includes two new pieces of equipment:

• A VUTEk ultraviolet-curing printer, which allows the company to print images up to 10 feet wide and any length on materials that are two inches thick. It prints twice as fast as any of Solar Imaging's current printers and allows for more colors, including white, which provides better clarity.

A MultiCam router, which allows more cuts in less time, including cutting boards, Plexiglas, styrene and foam two to three inches thick. It can cut three-dimensional lettering and cuts within three minutes.

Solar Imaging and Eclipse Studios are in the same building, where Burt can walk from one of his photography studios right into the printing room. The building includes three photography studios. One could be used for "wet" photos that require water backgrounds; one is beside a fully functioning kitchen for photographs of food; and a third has no viewable horizon and is used for large-group or vehicle photos.

Burt founded the companies with his wife, Sandra, and they initially built an 8,500-square-foot building in Dublin. When they outgrew that building, they added leased space in Westerville. The company consolidated into one space in Gahanna in 2008, in an existing 28,300-square-foot building that has the capacity to increase in size by another 10,000 square feet.

Burt said the building houses his two first companies and his third company, Page One, which completes press work, touchups and digital page layout.

All three companies employ about 23 people. Burt said he has added at least one new employee and hopes to have 30 to 34 people working for him eventually.

Burt said Gahanna is a good location for the businesses, as they are close to the airport, close to many of his clients and close to downtown and several restaurants.

"I don't think we could have picked a better location," he said.

Sadicka White, Gahanna's development director, said the city always is happy when businesses expand, either under the current business or a subsidiary business.

White said the company received incentives when moving to Gahanna.

"We're happy they are working toward meeting the development criteria included in those incentives," she said.

Leah Evans, the city's economic-development manager, said that when Eclipse Studios and Solar Imaging moved into the building at 825 Taylor Road in Gahanna, the building already had a property-tax abatement associated with it. That abatement was transferred to Burt's companies and involves a 100-percent break on property taxes that expires this year. Evans said the companies also were given an additional incentive, which begins in 2011.

The city will repay the companies 50 percent of its employee income-tax receipts in 2011, 2012 and 2013.

As part of those incentive agreements, the companies are required to create a certain amount of employment opportunities. Evans said the abatement for the property that was transferred to Eclipse and Solar Imaging carried with it a commitment for three full-time jobs. Burt reports he has 19 full-time employees on site.

Evans said the amount of property taxes he does not have to pay annually is $35,918, according to the Franklin County Auditor's Office.