SC Johnson Wisconsin headquarters undergo renovations

Parts of SC Johnson’s world headquarters campus in Racine, Wisconsin, are being demolished and will be replaced with a new atrium, a report by The Journal Times says. The plans for renovations were part of a November 2015 announcement from SC Johnson CEO and Chairman Fisk Johnson.

In the announcement, Johnson says the company plans to move 175 Racine jobs to downtown Chicago, will invest $50 million to $80 million to upgrade buildings on the Racine headquarter’s west end and will turn the former Diversity building in Mount Pleasant, Wisconsin, and its campus into the Sam Johnson Campus.

SC Johnson spokeswoman Kelly Semrau says in the report that over the decades, five to seven buildings on the campus has been “cobbled together,” and the renovations would make them more cohesive, create new meeting spaces and upgrade technology to improve communications.

Demolition of the campus began on March 14, the report says. Buildings 21, 22 and 23 on the campus will be razed. The company acquired the buildings in 1934. Building 21 contained the cafeteria and JMBA Hall. Building 22 housed a carpenter shop, tool room and storage. Building 23 was used for miscellaneous storage.

The demolished site will become an expanded parking lot that will open to a new modernized west end of the campus. The company plans to keep the original wood flooring, bricks and the elevator. The company also plans to donate some material to Habitat ReStore for repurposing.

A building between and connected to two others slightly south of buildings 21, 22 and 23 will also be demolished and replaced with the new atrium.