Illinois-based Midwest Air Technologies Inc. is relocating its manufacturing and distribution facility to Mesquite from Carrollton.
Privately held Midwest Air makes chain-link and agricultural fence at the facility, according to George Ruhl, president and chief operating officer.
In making the move, Midwest is gaining about 60,000 square feet of additional space, going from 200,000 square feet to about 260,000 square feet in a state-of-the-art industrial building, Ruhl said. Midwest will be closer to Union Pacific Railroad Co.’s massive Dallas Intermodal Terminal off Interstate 45 in southern Dallas County. Midwest takes delivery of wire and chain-link accessories from manufacturing sites offshore that come through the intermodal terminal, Ruhl said.
“It’s a brand-new facility, and we’re the first tenant,” Ruhl said.
Midwest has signed a five-year lease with real estate developer IDI for 259,200 square feet in a new 500,000-square-foot building at 2300 Skyline Drive. The building is one of three existing buildings in IDI’s Skyline Trade Center, where ultimately four buildings are planned, said Tom Palmer, economic development manager for the City of Mesquite.
“It’s uniquely built,” said Palmer of the facility, “with staging areas to get trucks off the street.”
Midwest has 45 employees in Carrollton at its existing facility at 1800 Kelly Blvd., Ruhl said.
The company will likely increase the number of employees to 100 at the new Mesquite facility, he said. Hiring of production and warehouse workers will start in 2009, but Ruhl declined to disclose the average wage rate. He said he hopes existing employees will move to the new location.
Midwest Air is owned by privately held MAT Holdings Inc., which is controlled by Chicago businessman Steve Wang and his family, Ruhl said.
The City of Carrollton has granted Midwest Air a 50% tax rebate on its business personal property over the five-year term of the lease, Palmer said. The value to the company is roughly $22,000 a year, he said.
Location was an important factor in the decision, said John Leinbaugh, vice president of leasing at IDI.
The new facility provides direct access to Interstate 635, as well as to interstates that connect to markets north and south of Dallas and Fort Worth, Leinbaugh said in a statement. The remainder of the building, 232,800 square feet, is available.
Broker Pat Haggerty, of the Pat Haggerty Co., represented Midwest. Haggerty said in a statement that the building’s clear height, outside flatbed storage, building depth and two driveways — one for employees and one for trucks — make it ideal for Midwest.
Midwest sought out Mesquite, Palmer said, noting the city didn’t “poach” the company. Carrollton hates to lose Midwest, said Brad Mink, director of economic development for the City of Carrollton.
“But we also understand that those things do happen and we’ll work hard to fill the space,” he said. “Congratulations to Mesquite.”
