Vehicle lighting manufacturer J.W. Speaker Corp. is preparing to expand its facilities in Germantown, although exact plans have not been finalized.
The Germantown Plan Commission recommended approval of a rezoning request on Monday for 47 acres located directly west of the company’s current 162,000-square-foot facility along Freistadt Road. The request would change the zoning from agricultural to limited industrial.
The village board still needs to sign off on the change.
J.W. Speaker is purchasing the property subject to the rezoning approval for future offices, manufacturing capabilities, meeting space and design facilities, according to village documents.
“We’re a little bit constrained now,” said George Lehnerer, J.W. Speaker chief financial officer. “We are exploring a couple of different options.”
He said the idea would be to open up some additional space and be able to grow unit volumes. Options include an addition to the current facility or a new facility altogether, but Lehnerer said no firm decisions have been made at this point.
J.W. Speaker designs, manufactures and assembles high-performance vehicular lighting products for OEM and aftermarket customers. Lehnerer said the company is able to work with a number of different manufacturers and has reached a point where it isn’t really dependent on any one in particular.
