Film and bag maker Profile Films Inc.'s expansion plans took another step forward with local approval of its proposed 100,000-square-foot facility in Grand Rapids, Mich.
The Grand Rapids Planning Commission approved the company's plans Sept. 12 to build a new manufacturing and warehouse facility near an existing site in nearby Walker.
The 9-acre property is bordered by the city of Walker to the north and a railroad right-of-way to the east. Profile Films purchased the site for $3.2 million in July 2022. The company demolished a former industrial building, parts of which were more than a century old, in August 2023 to clear the way for its planned expansion.
Profile Films also is considering a future 85,000-square-foot addition to the facility, which could potentially be built in the next four or five years, according to site plans.
"This project, as you've heard, has been through a couple of iterations," John Eberly, project manager at Progressive Cos,, said at the planning commission meeting. "In a sense, we could claim that the city is fortunate to have the business owner involved who is here, making use of a site that is frankly not very usable in a lot of ways."
Eberly, who presented the project on behalf of Profile Films at the meeting, added that extra investment will have to take place at the property to remedy soil pollution caused by previous industrial uses.
The rapidly growing Profile Films was founded in 1998. It is led by CEO Steve Ehmann, the husband of Cheri DeVos Ehmann. The company's revenues reached $85.9 million in 2023, growth of about 47 percent from 2020, according to ranking data from Plastics News.
Profile Films — whose legal name is Profile Industrial Packaging Corp. — expects to use the new facility for the production and warehousing of custom polyethylene bags, sheeting, tubing and other products for the food, medical and industrial markets. The company anticipates that the building would be open at all hours of the day, seven days a week with 35 employees staffing two shifts.
The planning commission approved a special land use for the plan to accommodate additional building height for 60-foot-tall extrusion towers that exceeds the 45-foot maximum height. The commission also approved the plan's deviations for less transparency — fewer windows — on the exterior of the building, which they felt was acceptable because of the proposed landscaping and to accommodate the plant's functionality.
"The landscaping does a lot to break up the facade of the building. That's the thinking behind the transparency requirements," said planning commissioner Brian Swem. "I'm appreciative of a manufacturer who wants to continue to be located in Grand Rapids."
The plastics products manufacturing process requires the company to block sunlight from certain parts of the plant, Eberly said.
"The things that we're asking for relief from and variances are, frankly, necessary," Eberly said. "This is not a person that's trying to do this on the cheap and not comply because it's convenient. These products are not designed to stand up to light for a long period of time, and they will lose inventory if they allow daylight into the facility."