ADAC Automotive: ADAC Automotive to invest $23.5 million in new HQ campus

ADAC Automotive hopes to attract more highly-skilled workers with a new headquarters campus south of Grand Rapids. CASCADE TOWNSHIP - ADAC Automotive hopes to attract more highly-skilled workers with a new headquarters campus south of Grand Rapids. The manufacturer of automotive door handles and exterior mirrors broke ground this morning on a roughly $23.5 million project to build a new 56,000-square-foot corporate headquarters on Eagle Drive in Cascade Township, as well as expand its research and development facility by 24,000 square feet. The move will consolidate its Grand Rapids operations from four buildings into two, as well as position the company to offer employees a better work environment, said ADAC President and CEO Jim Teets. "We're building this new corporate campus with a much different work environment than what we have," Teets told MiBiz, adding that the focus will be on open and collaborative spaces that encourage communication. "We needed to do this. We needed an overhaul for our salaried workforce, R&D and our engineers," Teets said. "For talent attraction and retention, we needed the environment to make this all happen." The company worked with Grand Rapids-based Integrated Architecture to tour the offices of various local employers for design ideas for the new headquarters, he said. The company plans to add a variety of amenities, including a fitness center, in a move to better invest in its employees, Teets added. The company, which is working with Grand Rapids-based Rockford Construction Co. Inc. and Journey Construction, expects construction to wrap up by June 2019. With the new headquarters and R&D facility, ADAC plans to add about 50 high-tech positions. The company currently employs roughly 175 people at its administrative offices, and the new space is sized to accommodate additional growth. Teets said the capital project has been in the works for about two years. Cascade Charter Township approved an industrial development district and tax abatements for the project, which is being financed by Fifth Third Bank.