LECO Corporation continues to grow its real estate footprint in Michigan's Great Southwest with acquisition of a parcel of land along Hilltop Road in St. Joseph Charter Township, contiguous to its large scale campus with an eye toward potential expansion on that site at some future date.
St. Joseph Township Trustees heard from Cornerstone Alliance Business Development Team expert Shelley Klug during their noon-hour workshop session when she requested that the board establish a public hearing for their April 4, 2016 regular meeting to consider expansion of the already existing Industrial Development District along Hilltop Road to pave the way for any potential future expansion on the parcel just acquired.
Klug said after the meeting that LECO representative Joel DeBruyne has asked for inclusion of the new parcel west of the large green warehouse-style building on Hilltop directly across the street from the company's corporate headquarters building. LECO already owns vacant land to the west of that building, but has closed recently on the deal to purchase the space between what they already own and the Auto Zone retail store near Martin's Supermarket and 1st Source Bank.
LECO's campus in both South St. Joseph on the north side of Hilltop and in the township on the south side of the roadway comprises multiple manufacturing, testing, laboratory and office spaces in more than half a dozen buildings clustered there around corporate headquarters which is located at 3000 Lakeview Avenue.
Among the buildings on campus are the Elizabeth S. Warren Technical Center, the Carl E. Schultz Technical Center, the LECO Facilities Engineering Centre, the LECO Global Support Center, the LECO Compliance Testing Center & Anechoic Chamber, and others. They also operate a Separation Sciences building at South State Street and Gard Avenue a couple of blocks away. Other real estate holdings in the region include both land and buildings in the Meadowbrook Industrial Park neighborhood of Benton Township and elsewhere in the county.
Cornerstone's Klug requested the public hearing as a first step in approving the combination of existing LECO properties already in the Industrial Development District along Hilltop with the newly acquired parcel. She said there were no immediate plans for physical construction on that site under consideration, the company would just like to have the district expanded as one less step to have to consider if and when such expansion might be taken up.
LECO is a global manufacturer and provider of innovative technology for analytical testing instruments for a wide array of industries including metallographic and consumable products industries.
Late last October, LECO unveiled its new European Application & Technology Center in the Charlottenburg area of Berlin, Germany. That newly established facility is fully equipped with the latest LECO analytical technology in its applications lab, having close to 25 LECO instruments available for hands-on customer demonstrations and application work in the European theater. The facility also features lecture rooms set up to educate visiting employees and customers through workshops, seminars, employee training and more.
That new European Application & Technology Center will operate as the central hub for European subsidiaries, enabling LECO to bring the newest, cutting-edge technologies and support to customers all around Europe. It is also responsible for managing the LECO European business efforts and relationships while working to establish future growth there.
The public hearing on the request will take place at the St. Joseph Township Hall on April 4, 2016 at 6:05pm.
The new acquisition is west of (or to the right hand side in these photos) of the large LECO complex in St. Joseph Charter Township.
