GSDC

Hayes Mechanical fits right in at new Harlem Corridor Site.

The Greater Southwest Industrial Division (GSID) welcomed Hayes Mechanical Inc. to the Harlem Corridor this past summer. Marking its 90th anniversary in 2008, Hayes is a Chicago-based unionized boiler-making and pipefitting company. The company moved into what was once the Daily Southtown's (now called the Southtown Star) office and printing site at 5959 S. Harlem (front exterior pictured left). The move was needed as the company had outgrown its north side facility. After renovations that included a beautiful remodel of front office space, Hayes has settled in nicely at the 100,000 square foot facility.

The new site serves as Hayes' main office and warehouse facility, storing the tools and parts necessary for its three main services: industrial boiler construction and repair, pipefitting, and commercial HVAC services. Founded by an amateur-boxer-turned-boilermaker, Hayes focused originally on boiler services (Hayes employees installing tubing in a boiler pictured below right) and has over the years developed a customer base across the Great Lakes Region and across industries. Boiler customers include utility, petrochemical, manufacturing, and beverage companies.

As Hayes grew, it developed commercial HVAC services that saw it develop a fleet of trademark red vans and a crew that provided heating and cooling services to clients large and small across Chicagoland. Past HVAC clients include the Chicago Public Schools and numerous downtown high-rise owners. Pipefitting work cuts across both its boiler and commercial HVAC services. The new Harlem facility serves as a hub for all of this work, which is conducted at clients' sites.

While the facility houses 75 full-time staff, Hayes can employ as many as 2,000 union boilermakers and pipefitters in a single job. Say, for example, that the company gets a contract at a utility plant in Green Bay, Wisconsin, that will require a crew of 150. Hayes will send a project manager from its Harlem location and hire the rest of the staff through a boilermaker and pipefitter union local in Green Bay.

GSID staff had a chance to meet with Mr. Terry AnCel, Hayes' CEO and President, in welcoming the company to the corridor. Mr. AnCel noted that in their site search, Hayes looked not only for a bigger space, but also for a Chicago space. The company has a special loyalty to the city it has called home for now over 90 years. Out of that loyalty arises a sense of civic duty: Mr. AnCel, for example, has served as Chairman of the Martin Luther King Scholarship Dinner Committee through the Illinois Commission on Diversity & Human Relations, helping award scholarships to Chicago Public School students. We are happy to welcome such a great Chicago company to the corridor!