The new $5-million build-to-suit facility for the steel manufacturer will be 95,000 sf, and feature two long bays for manufacturing. The contractor is Oliver/Hatcher of Wixom, MI.
"We've gone from a general line where we used four bays," says Matt Sennett, chief financial officer. "Now, we are very focused on two sides of our business, and we can just use the two long bays. It'll make product flow like butter."
The company, unlike most others in the area, does not service automotive suppliers. Instead, it processes coils and plates for original equipment manufacturers.
The Warren site was selected because of the tax breaks offered by being a Renaissance Zone, and because it was a build-to-suit property.
"We can build everything to suit our needs, in terms that are affordable," Sennett says. "With our lease ratio, you can't beat this deal. It's like renting in Downtown Detroit but with a new facility."
He did not want to say what the lease rates are. The company is leasing from Carpenters' Pension Trust Fund, Detroit and Vicinity.
Colliers International of Bingham Farms represented Sennett and Grubb and Ellis of Southfield represented the fund in the deal.
Sennett tells GlobeSt.com the current 130,000-sf headquarters building in Madison Heights, MI will be closed and sold, with all the equipment and personnel moving to the new building when it opens sometime in June. He did not say how the Madison Heights plant would be sold. Another Sennett plant in Grand Rapids will not close, he adds.
The tank plant was selected for closure under the 1995 Defense Base Closure and Realignment Act. The installation has been a part of the community since 1940 when construction began on the main 1.1 million-sf building.
The plant on Van Dyke Road, which has been operated by both Chrysler and General Dynamics, was the first ever built for mass production of tanks. The main building is being renovated by Oliver/Hatcher construction into an industrial facility. US Manufacturing will be one of the two major tenants, along with Noble International.
Warren has paid the federal government $5.9 million in installments since November 1997 to acquire the tank plant property. City leadership determined the community would be best served if the land was parceled and sold.
The new property now also includes the Carpenter's Union, Johnson Controls, Macomb Community College Technical Center, and the United Auto Worker's union.
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