Uline moving out of Lake County
Uline Shipping Supplies will move its Waukegan headquarters about 20 miles north to Wisconsin, bringing with it about 1,000 jobs, Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle said Thursday.
The company, which sells shipping supplies such as cardboard boxes, plastic bags and foam peanuts, plans to move 650 existing jobs and add another 350 jobs to Pleasant Prairie, just north of the border.
Uline looked at many sites in Illinois and Wisconsin and chose Pleasant Prairie because it was large enough, close to a Waukegan distribution center and near Interstate 94, said Frank Unick, the company's chief financial officer.
"It gives us the opportunity to have significant space to accommodate future growth and to bring people together again who are currently located in a number of different Uline facilities," Unick said.
The company plans to occupy the site in early 2010.
Doyle also announced a financial assistance package worth more than $6 million to assist in the move.
Chief executive officer Dick Uihlein said in a statement some of his wife's family lives in Wisconsin and his family had an important role in Milwaukee's history. Dick Uihlein's family started Joseph Schlitz Brewing Co.
The couple founded Uline Shipping Supplies in 1980. It now employs more than 2,300 employees.