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Wieland Metals in Wheeling planning $25 million expansion, 65 new jobs

Wieland Metals Inc. in Wheeling is planning a $25 million expansion that will create an estimated 65 jobs, the company announced this week.

The Germany-based copper manufacturing company wants to build a 110,000-square-foot industrial building on about 11 acres at the intersection of Lake-Cook Road and Northgate Parkway, just north of its existing facility. Village board members unanimously recommended a property tax incentive Monday, which needs final approval from Cook County.

The new building will be used to manufacture, warehouse, distribute and sell metal tubes. It will include about 10,000 square feet of office space, 7,000 square feet for tooling, maintenance, mechanical and lab uses, and 94,000 square feet for manufacturing and crane bays.

Company officials want to begin construction in July and finish by early next summer.

"We're under enormous pressure to get this up and running very quickly," said Markus Schuler, executive vice president of the company.

The company has a 220,000-square-foot facility on the existing property at 567 Northgate Parkway, which includes a plant for rolled products, a slitting center and high performance tubing production.

The tax incentive recommended for the project is a 6b classification, which is intended to spur industrial growth. Once the building is completed, the incentive allows the property to be taxed at an assessed rate of 10 percent for 10 years, 15 percent in the 11th year and 20 percent in the 12th year. After the 12-year period, the property will be assessed at the standard 25 percent rate.

If undeveloped, the property would generate $4.3 million in property taxes during the same 12-year period. It will generate nearly double that amount with the new building and tax incentive, officials said.

Without the tax incentive, the company told village officials it would build elsewhere in the Chicago area, Wisconsin or at its second North American facility in Pine Hill, North Carolina.

The company also is seeking an EDGE tax credit from the state.

"We are delighted to assist Wieland Properties in the expansion of their operations in Wheeling," John Melaniphy, the village's economic development director, said in an email.

"Wieland could have located these new manufacturing operations outside of Wheeling without the Class 6b incentive," he added. "This is a textbook example of how the Class 6b facilitates new industrial development in Cook County and assists in Wheeling's business retention program."

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