Cardinal IG expanding in Fremont

“Thank you for being in town,” Council President Steve Brown said to Cardinal’s general manager, Jim Devaney.

“We appreciate everything you do,” Devaney said. “We’re good neighbors.”

Cardinal makes glass for residential construction. It supplies a number of different window manufacturers.

A public hearing was held, but no one from the public spoke.

Cardinal is adding an 18,000-square-foot expansion on the building’s north side that will serve its maintenance and storage needs. The addition is estimated to cost $2.5 million and the company is projecting to add 22 jobs in the next few years. Cardinal will also add $1.3 million in equipment as part of the project.

“They’re in year 10 of an abatement,” Fremont Redevelopment Commission President Chris Snyder said in March. RDC gave the tax abatement a favorable recommendation. “They’re Fremont’s largest employer and have been here 20 years.”

Cardinal has 283 current employees — making it one of the largest in the county — with a payroll of $8.388 million annually, Snyder noted. The 22 new jobs will add $652,080 to the payroll, creating an average wage of $29,640.

Cardinal is headquartered in Eden Prairie, Minnesota, and was founded in 1962 in Minneapolis by M.L. Gordon, the company’s website says.

Nationwide, Cardinal has 37 manufacturing locations and employs more than 6,000 people.