A multinational company’s plans for a 135,000-square-foot Naperville facility that could have brought nearly 200 jobs to the city has been scrapped, company officials confirmed Wednesday.
SKF received City Council approval in August 2014 to erect a two-story office, research and development building on about 13 acres of land at the northwest corner of Warrenville Road and Lucent Lane.
The company also has a location on State Street in Elgin.
Mayor Steve Chirico said Wednesday that officials had received word in the past two weeks that SKF was pulling out of the Naperville site.
Company representatives had pledged to invest $18.6 million in the site over the next decade and estimated that it could produce nearly 200 jobs.
Spokesman Walter Delevich said the change in plans came about as the company reexamines its economic outlook.
The Naperville site was part of a “fairly ambitious build-out plan” that is now being reconsidered, he said.
SKF still holds a long-term lease on the building, Delevich said, and the project was halted at a point where the interior can be modified for a future sub-lessor.
Chirico called the news “unfortunate circumstances,” but said he was glad the decision was made now, instead of after the company had arrived and hired workers.
“It’s a very nice building,” he said. “My understanding is they’re motivated to find someone to take it.”
The Sweden-based company, which makes bearings, seals and lubrication systems, last year requested the city’s permission to annex and rezone a portion of the property and received several variances for building and parking setbacks as well as the number of parking spaces.
The plan, dubbed “Project Panda,” sailed through Naperville’s Planning and Zoning Commission in July 2014 despite officials not knowing at the time what company was behind it. SKF Group kept its identity secret as it negotiated with the state for incentives that ended up totaling $2.2 million.
Delevich said those incentives would have kicked in down the line, when the company was earning income from the Naperville site.
“No money ever changed hands with the state,” he said.
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