A 42,000-square-foot industrial building in Monitor Township is seeing new life after a downstate company needed room to grow.
Progressive Mechanical is expanding into what it’s calling a satellite location at 4684 Fraser Road, just off Midland Road. The company is rapidly growing.
Brooke Pulice, the Social Media Manager for Progressive Mechanical, says the firm is a veteran-owned business that specializes in designing, building, and installing mechanical processing systems and fire protection systems for industrial, commercial, institutional, and municipal customers.
Started in 2006, the company is owned by the uncle/nephew team of Randy and Charles Hosler. Pulice says in the past 19 or so years the company has grown from one site in Clawson to four sites, including the new Bay County location. They also have offices in Mount Clemons and Blacklick, Ohio.
The $2.5 million expansion here is the result of a 240% revenue growth in just the last two years.
Pulice says the Monitor Township location is the perfect addition.
“We were kind of just looking for a location and we found that spot,” she says. “It was the perfect size. It was kind of just made for us.”
Pulice says the company recently added contracts with new EV battery plants, GM, DTE, and Ford. The new contracts created a need for more fabricating space.
The company employs about 600 people across its sites and will work with
Union Local 85 Plumbers, Steamfitters,and HVACR Service Techs to add more jobs in Bay City.
Pulice says office staff and management will commute from Clawson for the time being.
Monitor Township Supervisor Terry Spencer is happy to see the space filled again.
Built in the mid-1980s as a wood fabricating shop, the building sat vacant for a short period of time, he says.
“One day they were just closed up and gone. And, you know when you get a building like that, of that size and magnitude and I don’t remember how many employees they had, but it’s always sad to see them close down and go away.”
The addition of Progressive Mechanical is good news not only from an economic standpoint but also for the neighboring businesses.
“There’s nothing worse than having a blighted building or a blighted area,” he comments.
The investment also means the township continues to grow.
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Photo courtesy of Progressive MechanicalThe $2.5 million expansion in Monitor Township is the result of a 240% revenue growth in just the last two years.Jim Reaume, President and CEO of
Bay Future, says he expects 25 people to be hired for union jobs inside the Bay City plant.
“The economic impact of a project like this is amazing,” Reaume says. “That previously vacant building is now generating taxes for the township. Twenty-five highly-skilled and well-paid workers are now plying their trade in Bay County.”
The ripple effect of the growth will spread throughout the community, he adds.
“More energy and water are now being purchased. Local companies that do building maintenance now have a new customer. It goes on and on.”
Spencer credits the township's process for attracting new business.
He says the township established policies and procedures to help the township understand exactly what incoming companies need. The goal is to make it easy to locate in Monitor Township.
“We want to help them navigate that and make it the easiest that we can,” Spencer says.
The goal is to help every size company, from those as large as SK Siltron to businesses as small as a local party store, Spencer says.
“We try to keep the same philosophy for everybody, whatever we can do to help them. We want to get them in, we want to get them up and running,” he says. “We just want to make sure on our end as the township that we're doing everything that we can do to help them because that's good for both of us.”
Spencer says the addition of companies like Progressive Mechanical to the area also means another opportunity to keep and attract young people.
“You’ve gotta have variety, and you’ve gotta have good jobs if you want young people to come back or to move to the county. We’ve been doing our part as much as we can to provide them.”
Reaume says it’s the close relationship between Bay Future and Monitor Township that also contributed to this project.
“Hard work from Consumers Energy and the staff at Monitor Township have been instrumental in making this project go smoothly. Progressive Mechanical is a perfect fit for Bay County, and we look forward to helping them be happy and successful,” he adds.
Spencer agrees.
“Charly and the team at Progressive Mechanical have been great to work with and we welcome them to our Monitor Township business community. We are excited to support all economic development projects that improve job growth in our community in any way we can.”