Generac Power Systems has purchased the former American Family Insurance building in Pewaukee where the manufacturer plans to locate hundreds of employees, the Town of Genesee-based company announced Tuesday.
The total cost of the project is $8 million including the purchase price and planned renovations, according to the company. Approximately 300 employees will move into the 75,000 square-foot facility at W236 N1402 Busse Road, just north of Interstate 94.
The facility will serve as the company’s new customer contact center where sales and support teams and a portion of Generac’s marketing team will be relocated. Generac staff moving to the Pewaukee facility will be a combination of existing employees and new hires, a Generac spokesperson said in a statement.
“As we continue to add employees to serve our customers and support our rapidly evolving business, we have outgrown our current headquarters facility in Waukesha,” Generac president and CEO Aaron Jagdfeld said in a statement. “Expanding to this new location will allow us to continue to grow Generac to serve our customers, partners and our people, as we work to meet the incredible market demand.”
American Family previously announced it would relocate its Pewaukee facility employees to a planned corporate office in the former Mandel Graphics Solutions plant in downtown Milwaukee.
Generac’s Town of Genesee headquarters will remain its primary location for corporate operations as well as research and development activities, the company said in a statement.
In addition to its Pewaukee office, Generac opened offices in Denver and Boston last month to accommodate growth and demand for its clean energy products, according to a press release.
The company’s growth prompted Generac to add capacity at one of its Wisconsin plants and fast-track opening its new facility in South Carolina earlier this year.
Generac has benefited from extreme weather over the last decade which has resulted in more frequent and longer-lasting power outages, driving demand for its residential, commercial and industrial generators.
The company posted its highest quarterly revenue in the first quarter of 2021 where sales for its products increased 70% year-over-year. The generator manufacturer also achieved its highest-ever revenue for a single quarter, which increased from $475.9 million to $807.4 million compared to last year.
Residential product sales, including home standby and Portable generators, also increased by 110% compared to last year.
Home standby generator demand was already on the rise because of the “home as a sanctuary” trend, a term Generac uses to describe the growing work-from-home population. However, Generac also benefited from major power outages in Texas caused by winter storms earlier this year.
A BizTimes interview with Generac’s chief information officer Tim Dickson details how a data-driven ‘culture shift’ has helped Generac grow.
