Cayman Chemical plans to expand in Pittsfield Township
Cayman Chemical, a biochemical products manufacturing and research company headquartered in Pittsfield Township, wants to expand.
Vanston/O'Brien Inc., a construction company based in Dexter, submitted a site plan on behalf of the company to the township Planning Commission.
The plan calls for a 20,086 square-foot addition on the south side of the existing facility located at 1180 Ellsworth Road. The current building is a 42,705 square-foot combination of office, lab, and storage space. It is one of two facilities operated by Cayman Chemicals sitting adjacent to one another on Ellsworth.
Officials will review the expansion request at the meeting on Thursday, June 7.
The application for an addition comes five years after Cayman acquired a 10-year $3.1 million tax credit to invest in a multi-phase 40,000-square-foot expansion. However, the expansion has not yet occurred, and after the economic downturn in 2009 Cayman laid off 15 of their workforce.
According to Donna Doleman, vice president of communications at Ann Arbor SPARK, Cayman told SPARK that they are looking for new talent and posted multiple positions for chemists and other professional positions recently on SPARK's job portal website.
Cayman officials were not available to comment on the proposal.
Ben Freed covers business for AnnArbor.com. Reach him at 734-623-2528 or email him at benfreed@annarbor.com. Follow him on twitter @BFreedinA2
Comments
Josh Thiele
Tue, Jun 5, 2012 : 2:35 p.m.
I heard that the Cayman expansion was to become a rehearsal space for the local pop sensation, THRILLTRAIN. Currently they're discussing how to get enough glitter to paint the walls with. That's why they can't comment. It's all hands on deck, calling every Party USA in a 200 mile radius. It's just what I heard.
Townie
Tue, Jun 5, 2012 : 10:58 a.m.
AA.com continuing to cheerlead for SPARK: "The application for an addition comes five years after Cayman acquired a 10-year $3.1 million tax credit to invest in a multi-phase 40,000-square-foot expansion. However, the expansion has not yet occurred, and after the economic downturn in 2009 Cayman laid off 15 of their workforce. According to Donna Doleman, vice president of communications at Ann Arbor SPARK, Cayman told SPARK that they are looking for new talent and posted multiple positions for chemists and other professional positions recently on SPARK's job portal website." SPARK probably (no one but SPARK would know given their less than transparent job creation calculations) has counted the 15 lost jobs already and will add to that if and when Cayman hires replacements.