Bilbao, Spain-based Ingeteam, a renewable energy company, will purchase an 8.1-acre site in the Menomonee Valley to build a $15 million, 114,000-square-foot manufacturing facility. The facility will also serve as the company’s North American headquarters.
The site is located at 3757 W. Milwaukee Road, just south of the new Charter Wire plant, in the Menomonee Valley Industrial Center.
The Menomonee Valley Industrial Center is an industrial park that was created by the city on a site at the west end of the valley, near Miller Park, that the city acquired from Chicago-based CMC Heartland Partners in 2003. The city spent millions to clean up and attract development to the industrial park.
Several businesses have built facilities in the Menomonee Valley Industrial Center including Palermo Villa Inc., Derse Inc., Charter Wire, Badger Railing, Caleffi North America Inc. and Taylor Dynamometer Inc.
Ingeteam is purchasing the 8.1-acre site from the city for $120,000 an acre, or about $972,000 total, said Department of City Development Commissioner Richard “Rocky” Marcoux.
When first created, the Menomonee Valley Industrial Center had 60 acres available for private development. With Ingeteam’s purchase only 12 acres are still available.
Construction of the Ingeteam facility is expected to begin in April. The company expects to begin manufacturing operations in January 2011 with about 50 to 60 employees and will employ about 275 workers there by 2015.
Ingeteam will use the facility to manufacture Indar generators for wind turbines and to manufacture converters for the wind energy industry and to manufacture inverters for the solar energy industry.
The company currently has a 12- to 15-percent worldwide market share of wind power components. However, Ingeteam has identified the United States as a growth market for wind energy and expects its global market share to rise by having a U.S.-based manufacturing operation to supply the North American market.
Ingeteam is receiving state and federal incentives for the facility in the form of $1.66 million in tax credits from the federal economic stimulus program, up to $4.5 million in state tax credits and a $500,000 forgivable loan from the state.
“The tax incentives tied to the creation jobs is a key component of our vision,” said Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett, who is running as a Democrat for governor.
Ingeteam considered 80 sites across the U.S. for this facility. The tax credits were a key reason that Wisconsin was chosen, but state and company officials also cited the region’s business climate, the region’s strong manufacturing base and available supply chain, the skills and work ethic of workers in the region and alternative energy education provided by area universities.
