Lot 10 in Eastwick Industrial Park: formerly forested, now the upcoming home of Evergreen Solar’s Midland site.
				The new, 6,800-square-foot New-Tech™ facility at the entrance to Eastwick Industrial Park.
				Central Warehouse’s latest Eastwick expansion – a 50,000-square-foot facility.

As Michigan searches for a new economic direction, Midland continues to be a bright spot in the state – and the nation – with explosive business growth in the chemical and technology industries. One look at Eastwick Industrial Park, located just north of Dow Corning Corporation’s Midland Plant and The Dow Chemical Company’s Michigan Operations site, serves as a microcosm of the technology renaissance occurring throughout the entire area.

Last month, Lot 10 in Eastwick Industrial Park was lightly forested vacant land. On August 8, however, Massachusetts-based Evergreen Solar closed on the purchase of the lot to build a new facility there. Evergreen’s Midland plant will prepare their proprietary “string ribbon,” a crucial component of their cutting-edge solar panel manufacturing process. With the expertise of The Dow Chemical Company and Dow Corning Corporation here, not to mention the proximity of Hemlock Semiconductor, Evergreen Solar is taking full advantage of Midland’s location, technology infrastructure and in-depth expertise in chemical processing and technology development business.

Chemical and technology companies require suppliers with broad industry experiences of their own. New-Tech™, founded and based in Midland since 1993, supplies custom chemistry laboratory equipment to meet the ever-expanding needs of chemical industry customers. Earlier this year – as they were in the midst of winning statewide recognition as one of Michigan’s 50 Companies to Watch in 2008 – New-Tech was building and relocating to a new 6,800-square-foot facility at the entrance of Eastwick Industrial Park to accommodate rapidly growing demand for their products. This strong and continuing industry demand resulted in building an integrated manufacturing facility expandable up to twice its size to accommodate future business.

Industrial businesses also rely on a reliable warehousing and distribution base. Central Warehouse, Inc., has been a tenant in Eastwick Industrial Park for the last seven years. A 50,000-square-foot expansion last year quickly proved inadequate to handle additional new contracts from Midland’s economic base businesses, so the company purchased two more lots on the north side of the park to construct another 50,000-square-foot facility that will be operational by December, 2008.

From suppliers to warehousing to the high-tech businesses themselves, Midland has a fully integrated chemical and technology industry infrastructure. Multiple expansions in Eastwick Industrial Park are only one aspect of business confidence in the community. Midland also boasts multiple new projects at Dow Chemical, Dow Corning, Hemlock Semiconductor, MidMichigan Health, Consumers Energy, and Mid-Michigan Energy… 12 winners of Michigan’s 50 Companies to Watch competition over the past three years… and an amazing high-tech product development pace. The Midland area is truly becoming the integral hub for Michigan’s technology renaissance.

For more information on this dynamic community, continue on to the other sections of Midland Tomorrow’s Web site.

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