Italian company eyes Park 94 in Mt. Pleasant

Last week Naples, Italy-based Seda International Packaging Group SpA and Gov. Jim Doyle announced that the company plans to locate its new North American manufacturing facility in Racine County, creating 189 jobs.
But officials declined to say exactly where the company will locate.
“The company has not decided on an exact location yet,” said state Department of Commerce spokesman Tony Hozeney. “That announcement will come later.”
However, commercial real estate sources told BizTimes Milwaukee that the company plans to purchase a 323,610-square-foot building in the Park 94 development in Mt. Pleasant from Chicago-based HSA Commercial Real Estate.
HSA built Park 94, which consists of two buildings with a total of 448,610 square feet of industrial space industrial space, on an 83-acre site southwest of Highway 20 and County Highway V. Seda plans to purchase the larger of the two buildings, according to sources.
The other building in the development, which consists of 125,000 square feet of space, is partially occupied by Maysteel LLC, which moved its operations there from Menomonee Falls. Maysteel occupies 41,000 square feet of space in that building.
A spokesman for HSA declined to comment about the Seda deal for this report.
“It’s nothing we can discuss,” said HSA spokesman Brenton Schrader.
Cassidy Turley Barry is marketing Park 94 for HSA. When asked about the Seda deal, Cassidy Turley Barry president James T. Barry III said, “I cannot comment.”
Doyle said the state will provide $5.7 million in state assistance for Seda, which chose Wisconsin for its first North American location ahead of Toronto and Pennsylvania.
“I am proud to announce that Seda will locate their North American manufacturing facility here in Wisconsin, creating 189 new jobs in this state,” Doyle said. “Wisconsin has the best workers in the world and we are continuing to move forward and make the investments to spur economic development and create jobs.”
Doyle said he met with Seda executives during his trip to Italy last March.
The Seda Group had not considered locating their North American facility in Wisconsin prior to Doyle’s personal pitch.
“Seda makes great packaging products used worldwide, and we are very happy to open our first North American manufacturing facility in Wisconsin,” said Gianfranco D’Amato, managing director of Seda International Packaging Group. “Wisconsin’s well-trained workforce and Gov. Doyle’s personal pitch to our company are among the major reasons we are locating our manufacturing operations in Wisconsin, and we look forward to a long and successful relationship with the state.”
To support Seda’s new facility, the state is providing $4.2 million in tax credits and a $1.5 million forgivable loan.
The Seda Group produces packaging for ice cream, beverages and fast food containers.  The company is one of the world’s largest paper converting companies for the food industry. The Seda Group has 13 companies and 12 manufacturing facilities throughout Europe and supplies packaging to major world food companies.