By Greg Chandler
Zeeland Record
Ed. Note: The Zeeland Planning Commission was expected to vote Wednesday night on whether to recommend approval of rezoning the properties at 605 and 633 E. Main Ave. from residential to industrial. Details on that decision will be reported in next Thursday’s edition of the Zeeland Record, as Wednesday’s meeting was past the publishing deadline for today’s edition.
Before Reckitt/Mead Johnson Nutrition purchased and pursued rezoning of the residential-zoned parcels at 605 and 633 E. Main Ave., the company looked at acquiring other sites to the north of its Zeeland manufacturing plant, according to a review of documents recently obtained by the Zeeland Record through a Freedom of Information Act request.
According to notes from an Aug. 21, 2024 meeting of city officials, Mead Johnson staff and representatives from Lakeshore Advantage and the Michigan Economic Development Corporation that were obtained through FOIA, the company looked into acquiring the Reith-Riley asphalt plant at 724 E. Washington Ave. and a vacant 45-acre parcel of industrial-zoned land at 800 E. Riley St. At the time, the parcels were considered “essential” to make the expansion work, according to the meeting notes.
During that Aug. 21 meeting, Mead Johnson officials said that their plant had to shut down on occasion because of fumes from the Reith-Riley facility. Company officials said that acquiring the Reith-Riley property would have addressed the fumes issue and given the company room to expand, according to the meeting notes.
In another memo dated Oct. 28, 2024, City Manager Tim Klunder wrote of the 800 E. Riley site as being a “most logical” site – “from an acreage standpoint and the property being for sale” –
for a Mead Johnson expansion.
However, it was discovered at that Aug. 21 meeting that another company had put in an offer to acquire the 800 E. Riley site, according to the meeting notes.
Holland-based JR Automation Technologies acquired the 800 E. Riley site on Jan. 23 of this year for $5,006,100, according to Ottawa County property records.
Klunder confirmed after the June 12 Planning Commission public hearing of Mead Johnson’s interest in the 800 E. Riley site, and Mead Johnson external affairs director Art Pike also confirmed the company’s initial interest.
“Mead Johnson knows two things are certain: we have no interest in moving operations out of Zeeland, and we must modernize our equipment and technology while ensuring an uninterrupted supply of our infant nutrition products,” Pike said in a prepared statement. “To honor both of these tenets, we have evaluated all available options in our community, including the land at 800 E. Riley St. When that location was deemed unavailable, a thorough review of alternate options revealed that the best opportunity exists with the highly industrialized block outlined in our modernization proposal.”
Zeeland Record
Ed. Note: The Zeeland Planning Commission was expected to vote Wednesday night on whether to recommend approval of rezoning the properties at 605 and 633 E. Main Ave. from residential to industrial. Details on that decision will be reported in next Thursday’s edition of the Zeeland Record, as Wednesday’s meeting was past the publishing deadline for today’s edition.
Before Reckitt/Mead Johnson Nutrition purchased and pursued rezoning of the residential-zoned parcels at 605 and 633 E. Main Ave., the company looked at acquiring other sites to the north of its Zeeland manufacturing plant, according to a review of documents recently obtained by the Zeeland Record through a Freedom of Information Act request.
According to notes from an Aug. 21, 2024 meeting of city officials, Mead Johnson staff and representatives from Lakeshore Advantage and the Michigan Economic Development Corporation that were obtained through FOIA, the company looked into acquiring the Reith-Riley asphalt plant at 724 E. Washington Ave. and a vacant 45-acre parcel of industrial-zoned land at 800 E. Riley St. At the time, the parcels were considered “essential” to make the expansion work, according to the meeting notes.
During that Aug. 21 meeting, Mead Johnson officials said that their plant had to shut down on occasion because of fumes from the Reith-Riley facility. Company officials said that acquiring the Reith-Riley property would have addressed the fumes issue and given the company room to expand, according to the meeting notes.
In another memo dated Oct. 28, 2024, City Manager Tim Klunder wrote of the 800 E. Riley site as being a “most logical” site – “from an acreage standpoint and the property being for sale” –
for a Mead Johnson expansion.
However, it was discovered at that Aug. 21 meeting that another company had put in an offer to acquire the 800 E. Riley site, according to the meeting notes.
Holland-based JR Automation Technologies acquired the 800 E. Riley site on Jan. 23 of this year for $5,006,100, according to Ottawa County property records.
Klunder confirmed after the June 12 Planning Commission public hearing of Mead Johnson’s interest in the 800 E. Riley site, and Mead Johnson external affairs director Art Pike also confirmed the company’s initial interest.
“Mead Johnson knows two things are certain: we have no interest in moving operations out of Zeeland, and we must modernize our equipment and technology while ensuring an uninterrupted supply of our infant nutrition products,” Pike said in a prepared statement. “To honor both of these tenets, we have evaluated all available options in our community, including the land at 800 E. Riley St. When that location was deemed unavailable, a thorough review of alternate options revealed that the best opportunity exists with the highly industrialized block outlined in our modernization proposal.”
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