Global Power Components plans to move from its West Allis facility to a building in Milwaukee that previously housed operations for The Oilgear Company.
Hyrule LLC and BHP, Inc., doing business as Global Power Components, are seeking help from the state Public Finance Authority to issue up to $8.3 million in bonds for the acquisition, expansion and equipping of land and buildings at 2300 S. 51st St.
Under state law, the city of Milwaukee has to sign off on the financing before the bonds can be issued. Ald. Mark Borkowski has introduced a resolution for the city to express its support.
Borkowski said the company approached the city about getting its support and he was impressed with the company and its chief executive and owner, Anthony McIntosh.
The company has been manufacturing generator accessories for the power generation market since 1996. It currently operates out of roughly 165,000 square feet across three facilities near 6682 W. Greenfield Ave.
“They outgrew their space in West Allis,” Borkowski said.
McIntosh said the company was at a point where it could either relocate to Houston to be closer to many of its customers or find a new facility in the area. He said over the last three years the company has explored a number of possibilities but kept running into roadblocks.
“We’ll stay here and we want to stay here,” McIntosh said.
Oilgear announced last year it planned to shut down manufacturing operations in the area to realign its operations. The building had an assessed value of $2.5 million in 2015.
The plan now is to buy the Oilgear building, which has 250,000 square feet of space currently and add about 40,000 square feet. The company could then add up to additional 150,000 square feet in phases in the future.
Going through the Public Financing Authority allows Global Power Components to receive a better interest rate, but it does not put the city or state on the hook for the borrowing. McIntosh added that the company isn’t looking for additional city support like tax incremental financing.
Global Power currently has around 185 employees and the company plans to add more in the future. McIntosh said the company has both high-paying blue collar jobs and a number of engineers on staff. In particular, he said the company is unique in that it draws on all engineering disciplines.
“What makes our company so unique is it’s one of the very few places where you can get all of the disciplines into one package,” he said, adding that price point, ease of use, service and in-house offerings make the company’s products appealing to customers.
