McHenry Times

The Crystal Lake City Council recently awarded two grants to two new businesses.

The City of Crystal Lake has a business grant program called the Manufacturing Job Creation and Investment Grant Program Matching Grant. Under the program, the City will provide a matching grant to eligible businesses that develop a new business within the village limits. During a Dec. 6 City Council meeting, two businesses were each awarded $10,000.

The first business that applied for the grant was Kruger Plastic Products LLC, doing business as Springboard Manufacturing. The company took over an old building in the village and will be purchasing new equipment that qualifies them for the grant. The business owners explained that they are a plastic manufacturing company, doing some medical devices and a small amount in the automotive field. They noted that they are pleased to work in Crystal Lake and invited the board to their grand opening on Jan. 3.

"We're really excited to come to town here at Crystal Lake," Doug Constable, Springboard's CEO, said in the meeting. "We were approached and have been working with Cardinal for quite some time about taking on some of the products that they're manufacturing currently in the Tech Drive facility. Brian and I came on our first visit several months ago and instantly said, 'We don't want to move this; this needs to stay right where it is.' The team there is tremendous. We have about 300 people, including the temps that we have currently. And the facility has been really well maintained and set up and we're excited to be making it a big part of our effort."

The second business that received a grant from the village was Heartland Cabinet Supply. It is a homegrown company from Crystal Lake and is expanding its facility. Gary Reece started the company out of his bedroom and is now up to 17 employees. He is buying an old, vacant building in the city and fixing it up for his new headquarters. Reece plans to build out even more in the new facility and increase his team.