Massive Overhaul Transforms Aging Facility into Modern Campus
January 24, 2024 (Waukegan, Ill.) – PREMIER Design + Build Group has completed the transformation of an aging, 225-acre business park in Waukegan, Ill. into a modern, master-planned campus for high-tech manufacturing, logistics, and life sciences. PREMIER managed design + build services across the site, which is on Waukegan Road near Interstate 94. The location is midway between Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport and Milwaukee’s Mitchell International Airport.
PREMIER’s work to reinvent the old “McGaw Park Campus” began 10 years ago. The original development was named for Foster McGaw, who founded the American Hospital Supply Corporation. AHSC occupied the McGaw Park Campus before being acquired by Baxter Travenol Laboratories in 1985.
“This project is a prime example of how you can reimagine the ways these sites are used,” explained Alan C. Zocher, Co-Founder, Managing Principal at PREMIER. Zocher has been involved with the firm’s work on the Waukegan site since 2014. “Once upon a time, corporations bought large parcels of land and created sprawling suburban campuses filled with features like manmade lakes, picnic groves, and walking paths. In today’s world, this is no longer a viable model for land use. Companies have moved on, which presents new challenges. Specifically, how do we re-envision these spaces to meet today’s needs and create economic engines for local communities?”
PREMIER collaborated with multiple entities to rethink the site, its infrastructure, and the existing buildings. “There were three major phases of the redevelopment,” said Zocher. “Precision in planning and decision-making was critical, especially since we had some owners and tenants who continued on-site operations throughout much of the phased redevelopment. Although we were engaged in a major site overhaul that involved building extensive new infrastructure and demolishing some legacy buildings, we paid careful attention to ensure there were minimal disruptions for active users, which included a data center serving a global corporation.” Over the course of the project, PREMIER’s team demolished obsolete space totaling 1.2 million square feet.
Waukegan Site Transformation: Phase Three
The last remaining building on the campus was a 1970s-era concrete warehouse. For the final phase of redevelopment, the building was to be torn down and replaced with a state-of-the-art distribution facility for The Visual Pak Companies, a contract packaging company. PREMIER has successfully completed several earlier projects across the Midwest for Visual Pak. The old warehouse was filled with poured-in-place concrete tunnels for process piping. Demolition of the existing structure was complex, as was devising a solution for repurposing the older materials. The project team brainstormed ways to accomplish both. The new facility features a cross-dock configuration housing more than 50 loading docks.
After a decade of transformative work, the PREMIER team has delivered a fully revamped, eleven-building campus featuring precast concrete and glass structures with 32’ to 36’ clear ceiling heights. In all, the new business park has over 3.4 million square feet of modern, Class A space. Users include Medline, Amazon, Jelly Belly, and Peloton.
PREMIER team members involved in this long-range assignment included Alan Zocher, Joseph Ahrens, Ronald Nelsen, Johnathan Nelsen, Jason Spataro, Dan Freitag, Zach Gadomski, Tom Johnson, and Dale Carter. Throughout the project, PREMIER worked closely with several partners including Cornerstone Architects Ltd. for architectural design, along with Swift Structural Design and LJB, Inc. for structural engineering, and Manhard Consulting Ltd. for civil engineering. “This continuity in project partners was key because the challenges and the scope of this transformation were huge,” according to Zocher.
“We’re exceptionally proud of what we’ve done to breathe new life into this property and to deliver a facility that meets the needs of Waukegan and Lake County for today and well into the future,” said Zocher.
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Media contact:
Amy Brierly, amybrierly@extramilepr.com
(312) 576-5100
Image Credit: © Serhii Chrucky/Esto
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