In June 2019, KIRCO MANIX announced that it was selected by Webasto – a tier one global supplier of roof systems to automotive OEMs in the field of mobility – to renovate and expand an existing building located at 2500 Executive Hills Boulevard in Auburn Hills, Mich. This would be the site of Webasto’s new Americas headquarters.
Phase one of the expansion began in May 2019 with demolition of the interior of the existing 109,000-square-foot building and was completed in July 2019.
According to Doug Manix, president of KIRCO MANIX, the company was pleased that Webasto selected KIRCO MANIX for this project, not only because of the scale of the renovations, but also because of the personal history. The existing building was originally constructed by Campbell/Manix in 1995.
In phase two, KIRCO MANIX broke ground on a 40,000-square-foot addition in October 2019, which included adding a testing lab, office space and a dining area. Simultaneously, phase three began in February 2020 with interior renovations.
According to Manix, this has been an architecturally interesting project for KIRCO MANIX to have been a part of. The building has a unique style of architecture not typical for an office building in the metro Detroit area. It was modeled after an anthropology museum in Veracruz, Mexico.
Webasto was firmly dedicated to preserving the original characteristics and design intent, so KIRCO MANIX worked carefully and with great attention to detail to match building styles and elements throughout the new addition. For example, replacement and improvements to the building’s original skylights and matching the 3,000 existing punched out windows from the original design carried over to the new addition.
With an investment of $40 million, the expansion will support Webasto’s forecasted engineering and testing requirements, as well as consolidate its existing staff from locations in Rochester Hills, Troy and Plymouth, Mich.