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By TOM DAYKIN
USA Today Network via Reuters Connect
Rockwell Automation Inc.‘s planned New Berlin manufacturing facility would create hundreds of new jobs, and cost $211 million to $246 million.
The development could be partly financed through its property tax revenue – if approved by city officials.
That’s according to plans filed with the city for the 810,000-square-foot manufacturing facility and office, to be built east of an existing light industrial building at 5800 S. Moorland Road. Those plans were posted online by the New Berlin Community Development Department on April 8.
That building could be expanded by 210,000 square feet – giving it just over 1 million square feet.
A second industrial building, with 425,000 square feet, could be built just south of West Grange Avenue, about one-half mile east of the Costco store, according to the plans.
The proposed development, to be built on what’s now mainly farmland, will undergo Plan Commission and Common Council review. The site to be rezoned totals around 325 acres.
A meeting for the public to look over the plans, ask questions, and provide feedback is scheduled for 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. May 13 at City Hall, 3805 S. Casper Drive.
The Plan Commission will hold a June 1 hearing on the proposed rezoning and comprehensive plan amendment, with the commission possibly taking action at its July 15 meeting. The Common Council could act on those items at its July 28 meeting.
Meanwhile, the council at its April 14 meeting could review a possible agreement with consulting firm Ehlers & Associates to prepare a tax incremental financing district project plan.
That could allow Rockwell and/or development firm SunCap Property Group LLC to use property tax revenue from the new facility to help finance it.
The tax financing district, which would need council approval, also could pay for such public improvements as sewers, water mains, and roads.
Executives from Rockwell and Charlotte, North Carolina-based SunCap didn’t immediately respond to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel’s question about how much money would be requested through the tax financing district.
Construction is expected to begin by early to mid-2027, and be completed in late 2028, a Rockwell representative said.
Milwaukee-based Rockwell, which makes industrial automation technology, says the New Berlin plant could be its largest facility. It would feature advanced automation, robotics and digital technologies.
The New Berlin facility is part of Rockwell’s plans, announced in August, to spend $2 billion over the next five years on its manufacturing plants, talent, and digital infrastructure.