Tweet/Garot moving offices to De Pere

DE PERE - Tweet/Garot Mechanical Inc. will move its corporate headquarters from Green Bay’s west side to the former Humana Dental building in downtown De Pere.

Tweet/Garot CEO Chris Howald said the 60,000-square-foot office building at 325 Reid St. will give the mechanical and engineering firm space for about 100 administrative and technical employees as well as room for future growth. That's just a sliver of the approximately 600 people the 120-year-old company employs for process piping, HVAC, mechanical engineering, automation systems, sheet metal fabrication, industrial ventilation and other construction services.

“We are in a growth mode and overextended in our current space,” Howald said. “We can’t hire enough new designers and engineers to keep up and we need as much office space as we can get. As we look across the Midwest for project engineers and mechanical engineers, we found an urban campus was attractive to them.”

Howald said the company originally sought land for a new office building and an 80,000-square-foot manufacturing space that would enable Tweet/Garot to consolidate workshops currently spread throughout the region. He said he drives past the Humana building most work days and finally decided to check into its availability.

The Humana building has been vacant for several years, and De Pere Economic Development and Planning Director Kim Flom said its revival will bring more people to downtown De Pere on a daily basis.

“Those 100 employees will benefit from walkability to places to shop and eat,” Flom said. “We’re just excited to have them add to the energy of downtown De Pere.”

Howald said Performa Architects' renovation plan envisions an open-concept space that emphasizes collaboration instead of offices. The building will include technology upgrades and new mechanical systems, as well. He said employees should be moving into the building in June.

Finding space for the new manufacturing location will take a little longer. Until then, Howald said, manufacturing and fabrication work will continue to occupy the company’s 6.1-acre campus at 2545 Larsen Road.

Brown County Register of Deeds information indicates Tweet/Garot sold the property to Northeast Wisconsin Technical College in October for $2.6 million.

NWTC Vice President of Business and Finance Bob Mathews said the acquisition gives NWTC control of a highly visible corner on the city’s west side. He said multiple programs, including corporate training, public safety and trades programs need more space, but a final decision won’t be made until Tweet/Garot finalizes its plans to move manufacturing operations.

“It gives us the opportunity to open the campus up to Packerland in addition to Mason (Street),” Mathews said. “But until Tweet moves out, we’re not going to finalize plans. We envision many possible uses for that facility.”

jbollier@gannett.com and follow him on Twitter @GBstreetwise.