Retail fixtures and furniture manufacturer Morgan Li is rebuilding and expanding, more than a year after a massive fire destroyed its warehouse in Chicago Heights.
The company said its new warehouse will be a larger, state-of-the-art facility that will bring several operations under one roof. It's expected to be ready in January 2025 and fully operational by March. Morgan Li had first announced plans to rebuild the facility in February.
“It’s very exciting for us to rebuild after a crazy event,” Morgan Li CEO Andy Rosenband said.
Aerial footage of the fire in February 2023, showed heavy smoke and flames shooting up from several points. Fire crews stopped the blaze with no reported injuries.
Morgan Li is still in the dark on what caused the fire. There were no conclusive results from the investigation that took place, Rosenband said.
“It all happened so fast and so quick,” he said. “From a safety perspective, preventative perspective, we wanted to just get as much information that we could use going forward. At the end of the day, we still don’t know [what happened].”
Work is well underway at the 14-acre site, located at 1001 Washington Ave. The foundational concrete has been poured, Rosenband said, and there will be a structure on the site “relatively soon." The pre-cast wall panels are currently being fabricated.
Separate from the new facility will be a 40,000-square-foot building for powder coating, a minimal-waste, environmentally-friendly process for painting that uses powder rather than standard liquid paint.
In addition to manufacturing, the company does paint work as well as graphics, metal and wood fabrication. Clients include Walmart, Vans and Gap.
Morgan Li's Class A distribution and assembly center will be larger than its predecessor. It will span 240,000 square feet and incorporate advanced technology, comprehensive metal and cardboard recycling capabilities and more than 20 loading docks.
Rosenband said having all of its manufacturing and warehousing under one roof will make the company more efficient and limit its carbon footprint. The company currently stores some products off-site and brings them in for painting.
“Everything was done on site [before], and it was much more efficient,” Rosenband said. “We’re really excited to get that back home again.”
Morgan Li will move some jobs back to Chicago Heights and create new ones. Rosenband said he anticipates hiring between 25 to 35 new employees for positions ranging from paint line to general labor and assembly.
He said the company wanted to reinvest in its Chicago Heights site, which it purchased last year. The manufacturer has a nearly $20 million loan for the project.
“The city has always been a great partner to us … so we just felt like it’s home. We’re rooted here,” Rosenband said. “We provide a lot of support to the local community. We’re big on community. So I think all those things just came together, and we just said, ‘Let’s give this thing another shot.'"
