McHenry Times

Two manufacturers are relocating to Crystal Lake to join the city’s growing business community, bringing approximately 2,400 new jobs to the area.

DeMarco Industrial Vacuum Corp. and Metrom Railroad Safety Products are in the process of finalizing occupancy arrangements in their new Crystal Lake locations. Over the past four years, the Crystal Lake business community has grown considerably. 

“I can tell you from firsthand experience, manufacturers are looking for that quality of life,” Crystal Lake Community Development Director Michelle Rentzsch told McHenry Times. “I talk to them all of the time and they’ve already picked Crystal Lake, and the reason is they want good schools, good parks, a nice size town, a variety of housing stock, access to train stations, good roads, MCC’s (McHenry County College) customized training for their employees — those are all the aspects that cause them to want to locate here.”

Metrom Railroad Safety Products, which will be relocating from Lake Zurich, designs and builds railway sensors and notification systems. It will be relocating to 1125 Mitchell Court, in the Lakeview Business Center, near the intersection of Rakow Road and Route 31.

DeMarco Industrial Vacuum designs, manufactures and sells industrial-performance vacuums. It will be relocating from Cary to a new building at 1030 Lutter Drive, also near Rakow and Route 31.

“Manufacturing is about 25 percent of the wealth of (McHenry) County, so it is a huge portion of what represents the wealth of McHenry County residents,” Rentzsch said. “So if people can work here, their quality of life changes too. They don’t have to spend a lot of time commuting; and the daytime population of the people that do work at the businesses here in town, they contribute to the retailers, the restaurants, the service industry, so I think it is threefold how manufacturing contributes to our community.”

Rentzsch said manufacturers are also drawn to Crystal Lake because of good industrial areas; and with so many manufacturers interested in relocating to the city, the demand is high.

“They try to co-locate," he said. "There are clusters of certain manufacturers in the area and they try to be in the general area so they can better serve their clients."