Champaign County Businesses Choose to Expand and Act, Rather than Watch and Waiver
March 3, 2004
Despite sluggish job growth and cautious capital investment in many areas of the United States in 2003 and 2004, several Champaign County businesses have hired new employees and expanded their facilities.
Hobbico, which exports hobby-related products to more than 70 countries, completed a $5,600,000 project that added 96,000 square feet of warehouse and office space in 2003, creating at least 30 new jobs to service the company's new capabilities. Hobbico employs 600 people full time and 150 part-time employees at multiple sites in Champaign and Urbana . Once called Tower Hobbies, Hobbico opened in Champaign in 1971.
“Our company has been a part of the business community in Urbana-Champaign for over 30 years and we're proud to be renewing our commitment to Illinois through this expansion project”, said Bill Muirhead, Hobbico's senior vice president for finance. “Expanding our facility will not only provide our customers with faster, more efficient service, it will also provide our employees with a state-of-the-art facility in which to work.”
Colwell, one of the world's largest direct suppliers of practice management products for physicians, dentists, chiropractors, veterinarians, physical therapists and eye-care specialists, has announced a 165,000-square-foot, $12,000,000 expansion project that will bring 50 new jobs to Champaign County.
“ Champaign County has been Colwell's home since 1927,” said Smith DeVoe, Colwell's general manager. “The environment and the labor force the county has offered us have been critical to our success.”
Neil Huff, president and chief executive officer of Renew Power, Inc. says the company plans to expand in June 2004. Huff and his partners, David McLeod, John Sutherland and Malcolm Man, had the expertise and the financial backing to start a company and sought the right technology to manifest their vision. After extensive research, the four came to Champaign County from Vancouver , Canada and found a micro-fuel cell technology developed at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Within four months they had executed a licensing agreement with the University, closed a seed financing involving IllinoisVENTURES and opened a laboratory/office in the Enterprise Works building on the University campus.
Huff has high praise for the Champaign County community. “We have never experienced such a tremendously high level of cooperativeness between all parties and every one of them was instilled with a serious ‘can do' attitude. After the initial setup, we were pleasantly surprised with the local talent pool. We have very technically sophisticated requirements for our lab employees as we begin to develop our first operating prototypes. Our first key employees were hired directly from the University environment and we had the lab staffed within weeks.”
White Cap, a division of Silgan Holdings, Inc. and a leading supplier of an extensive range of metal and plastic closures to consumer goods packaging companies in the food and beverage industries in North America, expanded its Champaign facility in October 2002. The company added 80,000 square feet of manufacturing space and 36 new employees.
Volition, Inc., a developer of high end games for PC and console, is building a new facility in downtown Champaign .
Mike Kulas, Volition's president and a 1983 University of Illinois graduate, is a former Chicagoan who has found the quality of life he wanted in Champaign County . “For many years I assumed I'd leave the area, but I gradually dug in deeper. I grew up in Chicago , and my parents lived there for many years (they now live in Savoy ). I like Chicago a lot, and I go back regularly. I miss many things about it, but I don't miss how crowded it is. We're very happy raising our kids here. The best thing I like about Champaign is how practical it is for raising a family.”
“Expansion is the sincerest form of flattery,” said Jill Guth , executive director, Champaign County Economic Development Corporation. “When companies invest in their facilities, you know they're pleased with what the area has to offer. We're proud that so many companies in Champaign County agree that our workforce, transportation, technology and quality-of-life resources are the equal of any region in the country.”
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