Riddell Sports Group, an Illinois-based maker of football helmets, pads and other sports equipment, needed a new manufacturing and office facility after having outgrown a production facility in Elyria, Ohio.

As the largest manufacturer of American football equipment, Riddell would be bringing good jobs to the area, and the community of North Ridgeville and state of Ohio stepped up and offered jobs revitalization, road and tax-increment financing grants.

After a thorough review of all real estate options assisted by Peak Construction, Riddell decided to move from one side of Cleveland to the other and redevelop an abandoned and partially demolished shopping center site near the Ohio Turnpike in North Ridgeville. The resulting 347,205-sq-ft building became its biggest office/manufacturing center ever with 26,000 sq ft of office space spanning two floors and 174,000 sq ft of manufacturing and 146,000 sq ft of warehouse space.

Amenities include a fitness center, large break and training rooms, and a common area with six computer kiosks. Heitman Architects’ design also called for a large, high-efficiency thermal oxidizer to filter and reduce overall VOC emissions from Riddell’s painting and plastic vacuum-forming processes to bring the facility into compliance with state environmental standards, even when operating at maximum overall production.

Peak’s design-build team participated in the location search and felt confident that the incentive package as well as the site, with transportation access and room to expand, was the right choice for Riddell. Not only did the personnel from Elyria move over when the North Ridgeville facility opened in June, but several employees have relocated from Illinois as well. A total of 400 new jobs have been created by the new facility.

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