CHICAGO—Many Chicago-area firms have recently decided to put money into new facilities, consolidating current operations into more modern facilities. Morgan/Harbour Construction, for example, has just completed the 143,000 square foot renovation of an existing warehouse structure into a new manufacturing facility for Semblex Corp. at 900 N. Church Rd. in west suburban Elmhurst.

Semblex supplies fasteners to the automotive, heavy truck, motorcycle, farm equipment and home entertainment industries. The company will combine three manufacturing facilities and its corporate headquarters into this one centralized location. It chose Morgan/Harbour as the general contractor to complete 27,000 square feet of finished headquarters office space as well as the conversion and fit-up of 116,000 square feet of warehouse space. JLL acted as the owner's representative, offering project management services, decommissioning and real estate consulting.

“We have specifically seen a significant uptick in business consolidation most specifically in the manufacturing industry,” Ben Warriner, executive vice president/partner of Morgan/Harbour, tells GlobeSt.com, adding that the company is “in the planning phases of two additional projects. In a general sense, there is certainly a great deal of efficiency that can be gained in consolidating operations into a new building. Consolidation of a business is designed to lower overhead and production costs, create additional revenue streams, and attract skilled labor - all of which create greater economies of scale.”