By Alex Gary - September 11th 2024

 

BELOIT

A Rockford company that makes lifting equipment plans to move its company headquarters to the old Regal Rexnord building at 200 State St., bringing 30 executive and administrative jobs to downtown Beloit.

The Caldwell Group Inc. received approval from the Beloit Plan Commission last week for a conditional use permit to have ground floor offices in a central business district. The company is under contract to purchase the building and hopes to begin working at the site by Oct. 1.

“This location and this building are going to allow us to grow our company, host sales and training events, and get our business team all under one roof,” Caldwell Group CEO Doug Stitt said in a news release.

For Stitt, it’s a return to his roots. He is a 1985 South Beloit High School and 1989 Beloit College graduate who still lives in South Beloit.

“My grandfather worked for Regal Beloit, so it really feels like home,” said Stitt, who has been the Caldwell CEO since 2005.

Regal Beloit changed its name to Regal Rexnord after a merger in 2021. Although the building has essentially been empty since March 2020, Regal Rexnord officially moved its corporate headquarters to Milwaukee in 2023.

“I can’t wait to share how great this community is with some of our Illinois team members,” he said.

Caldwell was founded in 1954 and has two manufacturing and distribution locations on Rockford’s south side. The company has been on a hiring spree, increasing its overall workforce from 120 full-time employees to 156 since the beginning of the year.

The company makes “below-the-hook” lifting equipment. Caldwell manufactures things like lifting beams and clamps to move concrete pipes on construction sites, sheet lifters and coil lifters to move steel coils and steel plates in steel mills, and forklift attachments like booms and fork extensions.

The 115,000-square-foot building had a listed sale price of $1.56 million. Caldwell did not release what it is paying for the building.

Regal Beloit’s history dates back to 1955 when Beloit Tool opened in a former roller rink. In 1961, the company moved its facilities to South Beloit and 1969 changed its name to Regal Beloit. In 1990, the company broke ground on the new headquarters at 200 State St. The estimated construction cost back then was $2.4 million. That would $5.8 million in today’s dollars.

The city is excited that one of downtown’s most visible vacancies will be filled.

“We look forward to meeting our new neighbors when they move in,” Drew Pennington, Beloit Economic Development Director, said in an email. “We are confident the Caldwell Group employees will find outstanding amenities in the surrounding areas to make a smooth transition.”

Pennington said the city hopes this is just the beginning of the relationship with Caldwell.

“We’ve made them aware of the opportunities in the Gateway (Business Park should they want to move or expand operations and distribution centers),” Pennington said. “(The city) will continue to provide whatever support is needed.”

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