Janicki Industries plans to share its new Barkley building

Janicki Industries’ plans for the 251,000-square-foot former Safran building it recently purchased in Bellingham include leasing space to other manufacturing companies.

The company, headquartered in Sedro-Woolley, purchased the building at 3225 Woburn St. for $25 million. In a phone interview, President John Janicki said the company will occupy a portion of the building but is still working out the details on how much space it needs. In the meantime, Janicki plans to lease some of the space it doesn’t need right now to other companies.

Janicki wouldn’t disclose what companies are going into the space, preferring to let them make the announcement themselves. He did say that the other companies are manufacturers and that he expects them to start moving into the facility in the next few months.

As for Janicki Industries, once it decides on the amount of space needed for expansion, it will need to do some renovations because of the work it does. Those improvements include bringing in overhead cranes and widening exterior doors. Aside from that, the building fulfills the company’s needs.

“For an industrial building, it has some really good bones,” Janicki said.

Janicki Industries, which has around 850 employees, is a privately owned engineering and manufacturing company that specializes in advanced composite materials and exotic metals, according to its website. Along with a facility in Sedro-Woolley, the company has operations in Layton, Utah.

During the first phase of moving into the space, John Janicki said the business expects to have 50 employees in the building, with the employees transferring from Sedro-Woolley. He does expect to hire more workers at all three of the company’s sites as more projects materialize as the pandemic subsides. When completely full, the building should have around 400-500 workers with Janicki employees combined with those of the other manufacturers leasing space.

Janicki Industries has been a supplier for Boeing for more than 20 years, a company that has struggled during the pandemic. Janicki Industries has also worked on military and space projects, allowing the company to consider this expansion.

Along with the building, Janicki Industries also purchased 12 acres of nearby land. Given the demand for industrial buildings in this area, John Janicki hopes to develop it if expenses and regulations allow.