Crawford Co. grows by reviving old warehousing

In a small corner of west Rock Island, Crawford Company is rejuvenating and repurposing once vacant warehousing, reinvesting in an industrial park now on the upswing and reimaging its space to create more room and efficiencies.  All those efforts were on full display Wednesday, Aug. 28, as the manufacturer and fabricator unveiled its renovated “Sawtooth […]

In a small corner of west Rock Island, Crawford Company is rejuvenating and repurposing once vacant warehousing, reinvesting in an industrial park now on the upswing and reimaging its space to create more room and efficiencies. 

All those efforts were on full display Wednesday, Aug. 28, as the manufacturer and fabricator unveiled its renovated “Sawtooth Building” during a ribbon-cutting ceremony with leaders from the City of Rock Island. The event marked the completion of a major renovation to the 70-year-old, 40,000 square-foot warehouse at 430 1st St. “We’re really proud today. This is a very unique project but very important to our operations,” Crawford co-owner Ian Frink told a few dozen guests. They included business leaders, city officials and Crawford employees.   Built in 1950, the warehouse started life as a transfer station, sitting alongside what was an active rail line, he told the QCBJ. “But it’s probably sat vacant for two-plus decades.”   Before snipping the ribbon on the $675,000 project, Mr. Frink applauded his business partner and co-owner Jim Maynard and Crawford Operations Director Troy Green for their project leadership. “They saw the good in this building and in bringing it back to life. They are our historic preservationists.” Purchased in 2021 by the co-owners, along with other nearby buildings, the warehouse is what Crawford affectionately calls the “Sawtooth Building” for its unusual roofline. Renovations included a flat roof replacement, facade improvements (including exterior painting) as well as lighting and interior upgrades.   The building now will be a central hub for Crawford’s plumbing prefabrication, some electrical work, inventory and tool storage and staging for its delivery operations. 

Fifth building revival

“This is our fifth building in Rock Island and they’re all older buildings that we’ve been able to bring back to use, and that’s good,” Mr. Frink told the small crowd.

Calling the project Phase 1, he said a Phase 2 project will bring additional upgrades to the roof and office buildout inside the warehouse – likely in the next few years.  With the warehouse now operational, it allowed Crawford to repurpose needed space at Crawford Main (its headquarters), located just three blocks away on Mill Street. “The big challenge for us is we’ve been landlocked and it’s been a challenge using our space,” Mr. Frink said. “We’ve been cramped at Mill Street.” In all, Crawford and its sister company Seaberg Industries now occupy eight buildings in Rock Island and eastern Iowa. At the main Rock Island campus, located in the city’s Sunset Industrial Park, Crawford occupies four buildings spanning 218,000 square feet total, including 40,000 square feet in the latest warehouse. It also operates another Rock Island facility on 31st Avenue and has Iowa locations in west Davenport, Dubuque and recently, Muscatine.  “I’d like to thank the City of Rock Island, Rock Island Economic Growth, our friends at American Bank. This is a big deal for us and we really appreciate their support not only today but over the years… ,” Mr. Frink said before cutting the ribbon. 

Employee support key

According to Mr. Maynard, it is Crawford’s employees who deserve the credit for another successful expansion. “I want to thank every one of our employees for helping us do this. We never would have gotten to this point in our life … again, a big thanks to our employees.” 

Standing outside the cavernous warehouse, the lifelong Rock Island man said “These buildings have been empty as long as I’ve worked here – for 35 years.”  The newly renovated facility was among four nearby buildings that the co-owners purchased as a solution to the growing company’s space constraints. “Everyone of them was completely empty except one… so we’ve been able to occupy these buildings,” Mr. Maynard added. Crawford and Seaberg utilize two warehouses with manufacturing operations, use one for storage and lease another.   During the ceremony, Rock Island Mayor Mike Thoms applauded the company’s expansion and told the owners “I can relate a lot to what you talk about.”  Mr. Thoms, whose family once owned and operated Thoms Proestler Co. and employed 500 workers, said “The owners are committed. They are the ones who put their signatures on the line. But it can’t happen without good, quality employees.”

Once ‘functionally-obsolete’

Proud that Crawford calls his city their home, the mayor added “The definition of entrepreneurs is the Crawford Company and the owners. To take a business and continue to grow it like they have with adding … plumbing, heating, cooling, electrical and then having the foresight to think about ‘we need to be more efficient’ and do pre-fabbing ahead of time. That is entrepreneurship.”          The $675,000 invested in restoring the warehouse is part of $7.36 million Crawford has invested since 2018 into growing the company, Mr. Frink said. This includes its acquisition of Art-O-Lite Electric and Seaberg Industries as well as renovations and improvements to its west Rock Island buildings at 730 31st Ave., 111 Fourth  Ave. and 321 Second St.  “They’ve taken what a real estate broker once called ‘functionally-obsolete buildings,’ fixed them up and brought them back to active buildings,” said Liz Tallman, vice president of development for the Development Association of Rock Island. DARI provided support to the project.  She said Crawford’s reinvestment has been a key driver in reviving Sunset Industrial Park, which is now near capacity. Throughout the west end business park, she said several companies have been renovating and expanding their facilities, including nearby Dohrn Trucking. 

Financial assistance

The City of Rock Island provided nearly 18% of the project’s costs through various financial assistance. The renovation was considered a High Impact Growing Rock Island Together (GRIT) project. Due to its impact, Crawford was awarded a Property Enhancement Program (PEP) grant along with a tax rebate.  “But they’ve done a lot of expansion … without any public assistance over the years,” Mr. Thoms said, adding “It’s not an easy task.”  “Thank you for helping fill up and buy these buildings, fixing them up, making them productive (and) bringing other businesses to town, renting out space,” he said.  Mr. Frink also applauded American Bank & Trust, which financed the remainder of the project’s costs for Crawford. “We’ve had a long-term, extensive relationship with the owners of Crawford Co.,” Jeff Rose, American Bank’s president and CEO, told the QCBJ at the event.  “Our bank was founded in Rock Island, a majority of our shareholders are from Rock Island and we’re always looking to reinvest here,” said Mr. Rose, who also serves as DARI’s vice chair.  

200 new jobs added

According to Mr. Frink, Crawford now is at its highest employment level ever with 420 workers. In total, its investments over the past six years have created 200 new jobs across the company. He said 50 employees were added just this summer alone, including 10-15 with the warehouse renovation’s completion. Crawford itself employs the majority with 349 workers, while another 71 work for Seaberg Industries.  The Crawford Company traces its roots to 1952 when Harvey Crawford, who had served as a Navy Air Corps pilot in World War II, opened Crawford Heating & Cooling.  Today, Crawford specializes in heating, ventilation, air conditioning, plumbing, drain cleaning, electrical, laser cutting, machining, welding, fabrication, brewing equipment and custom architectural products. “This has been a growth phase for us over the last six years – $7.3 million in acquisitions, investments and renovations. … We’ve never had this many good people doing so much heavy lifting for us,” Mr. Frink said. “The (work) culture is a big deal to us, we’re super proud of that.”