BY MICHAEL BURKE
Journal Times | Posted: Tuesday, July 8, 2008 12:00 am
BURLINGTON - The city will soon move to almost double the size of Burlington Manufacturing and Office Park before growing companies cause it to burst at the seams.
The south-side business park along Highway 83 has had two major acquisitions by manufacturers within the past eight months, leaving a dwindling supply of available parcels.
With that in mind, the Burlington Plan Commission Tuesday night will be asked to consider buying 107.5 acres immediately south of the approximately 130-acre business park. It would be the first step in the process of negotiating with the land owner and buying the land, said Burlington City Administrator Kevin Lahner.
"The park is very close to full," he said Monday. "There are essentially four lots left, they're relatively small, and we continue to get inquiries."
The farmer, Dave Boilini, is interested in selling the city the additional land, Lahner said. He expected city officials to meet with Boilini soon to start formal negotiations.
The city has landed two major employers for the business park since late last year. In November, Milwaukee-based RexCon, bought 26 acres and has just begun constructing a new headquarters and manufacturing building. Officials for RexCon, which makes products used in the road-building industry, say the building could employ 100 or more people.
Not only will RexCon be a significant park addition, but some of its suppliers have shown interest in settling in near RexCon, Lahner said.
The business park's latest land buyer is the home-grown Harmony Outdoor Living. The Common Council recently approved the firm's offer to buy 16 acres for a new headquarters and manufacturing building.
Harmony will likely start construction next spring on a 70,000-square-foot building, said company owner Joe Raboine, That structure could later be expanded to about 150,000 square feet.
Harmony began about 18 years ago as a landscaping contractor, Raboine explained. About two years ago it began developing a patented process for making modular outdoor components such as fireplaces, grill islands, pizza ovens, water features and outdoor kitchens.
Harmony - now operating in leased space inside Burlington Business Center - and Unilock of Elkhorn forged a relationship in which paver-maker Unilock supplies much of the material used for assembly at Harmony.
The Burlington company is also using Unilock's distribution system to sell its products in the Midwest, Northeast and Eastern Canada.
Harmony is now poised to enter the South and West as well, and Raboine said, "We have just gotten a massive response."
Harmony, which products target middle- to upper-income households, it is benefiting from climbing fuel prices and people's tendency to spend more of their leisure time at home.
"People are staying at their homes and investing more in them," Raboine said.
Burlington was a good place to continue its base of operations, he said: The employees are here; Unilock is nearby; and Chicago is currently the company's major market area.
Although the company just released its product line this year, employment has already been as high as 85 people. Raboine said he expects to employ more than 100 by next spring.