Bartlett approves expansions of two food plants
Bartlett's Brewster Creek Business Park is having a very good October.
Village board members have approved major expansions of the existing Get Fresh Produce and Rana Meal Solutions facilities, two members of the park's "food cluster."
Board members also approved a $50,000 economic incentive from the village for Rana's new 326,000-square-foot building, where a new line of lasagna products will be made and the company's North American headquarters will move from Oak Brook.
Even in light of the success the park has been experiencing, having two such expansions approved at one village board meeting was significant, Bartlett Community Development Director Jim Plonczynski said.
"I don't think it's unusual as much as fortunate," he said. "We have two successful businesses that like the park and want to expand there."
Get Fresh Produce's plan is to construct a 151,324-square-foot warehouse and industrial building that would include a 16,000-square-foot office area on a 9.25-acre site next to its existing building in the park.
The village's economic incentive for Rana comes from money already earned by the business park's tax increment financing district and matches the amount paid when the company moved there in 2011.
Bartlett's contribution is in addition to an offer by the Illinois Department of Economic Opportunity to continue its per-employee tax credit incentive to Rana. As of June, the company had earned $764,551 through such tax credits since opening.
Rana Meal Solutions has 229 employees, but the expansion creates the potential to grow to more than 370, according to Bartlett officials.
Considering both companies were allowed to do some preliminary site work, their new buildings might be completed in the spring, Plonczynski said.
The Brewster Creek Business Park, at Stearns and Munger roads, is also the home of such other food manufacturers as Greco & Sons and Cheese Merchants of America.
Other types of manufacturers have also located there, including some tool and die makers, Plonczynski said.
The business park has some remaining capacity, and work is under way to make more. One 12- or 13-acre site is being prepared for future use, while the relocation of a concrete plant is planned to allow for 25 more acres of new development, Plonczynski said.