Rexnord Corp. president and chief executive officer Todd Adams announced Tuesday at the Water Summit that the company will move the global headquarters of its Zurn business from Pennsylvania to a new building that will be built in the Reed Street Yards Water Technology Park in Milwaukee’s Walker’s Point neighborhood.
Rexnord acquired Zurn Industries LLC, located Erie, Penn., in 2007. Zurn is a manufacturer of engineered water solutions that aims to provide and enhance water quality, conservation, safety, and flow control in a variety of end markets.
The building will be located near The Water Council’s Global Water Center, and is expected to be completed by the fall of 2016.
The Zurn headquarters building will be approximately 50,000 square feet, said Dean Amhaus, president and chief executive officer of the Milwaukee-based The Water Council. He said construction is anticipated to begin in September.
The company plans to eventually have 120 employees at the site, according to Jodie Tabak, a spokeswoman for Mayor Tom Barrett.
“We anticipate continued growth and expansion of our water businesses and believe Milwaukee has created an ecosystem for water technology companies like ours to access world-class talent, innovation and technology development, as well as research partnerships that will help shape and address the world’s water challenges,” Adams said. “Rexnord’s heritage as a Milwaukee, Wis.-based company and support from The Water Council and the city of Milwaukee were instrumental in making this happen.”
Rexnord decided to establish Zurn’s headquarters in Milwaukee due to its collaboration with The Water Council over the past several years.
In March of 2013, Rexnord relocated some of its corporate offices and several executives from its West Milwaukee headquarters to a 14,000-square-foot space in The Water Council’s Global Water Center.
“As we’ve continued to build our global water business, it became clear we need to create a center of excellence and customer experience destination,” said Craig Wehr, president of Zurn. “This will allow us to better leverage our current scale, while making the right long-term investments to set the foundation for accelerated growth moving forward.”
Added Amhaus: “I think it’s a significant impact to be able to attract a global headquarters to the Reed Street Yards. It’s very, very rare to get a headquarters to move locations, and to get something of this size and magnitude is tremendous. It’s the first step of much more activity in the Reed Street Yards and the entire Water Council area.”
The Reed Street Yards is an 18-acre vacant area west of the Global Water Center at 247 Freshwater Way between the Harley-Davidson Museum and the Iron Horse Hotel. In a partnership with developer Peter Moede, who owns the land, General Capital Group plans to create a water technology business park in the Reed Street Yards. The city provided $7 million in tax incremental financing to install infrastructure on the site, and now it is ready for vertical development.
Zurn is the first company announced to be located in the Reed Street Yards.
