Sunsation Powerboats Building New Headquarters – Speed on the Water
If current plans hold, Michigan-based Sunsation Powerboats will begin pouring the foundation for its new facility in Cottrellville Township next week. Company president Joe Schaldenbrand met yesterday with city officials to finalize permitting for the construction of the new plant.
Sunsation Powerboats is one of the last bastions of high-performance powerboat-building in Michigan. Photo from the 2023 Sunsation Sun Run courtesy/copyright Scrapyard Media
“I believe we got the final approval we needed so we can pour concrete next week,” Schaldenbrand said. “We have to get the foundation poured before winter sets in—we have about three weeks—or we can’t pour until spring. This way, we can work on the first structure throughout the winter, warm the inside and even pour concrete in there. It will save us a tremendous amount of time.”
Sunsation currently has facilities some 15 miles apart in Algonac and New Baltimore. The Algonac property, which is owned by the company, consists of two structures that house lamination, research and development, and more. The leased New Baltimore facility houses Sunsation’s rigging operations.
Set to cover 50,000 square feet on 24 total acres of undeveloped land—a 22-acre parcel combined with a two-acre parcel—the first facility will accommodate all operations currently handled in Algonac. In the second phase of the project, Sunsation will build another 50,000-square-foot structure for operations currently handled in New Baltimore.
“This all started about a year-and-a-half ago with us researching the area,” Schaldenbrand explained. “We looked at every vacant piece of property and every building available. Our controller, who is very knowledgeable about real estate, helped tremendously.
“It’s a very big property,” he continued. “But not only will we have everything under one roof, we can expand our footprint on the property as our business continues to expand.”
An artist’s look at Sunsation’s expansion plans.
Schaldenbrand and his team have selected Carpenter Creations based in Coldwater, Mich., as the general contractor for the project. Company principal Adam Carpenter owns a striking, all-black Sunsation 34 CCX center console.
“Adam is meticulous in everything he does,” Schaldenbrand said, then chuckled. “Now it’s our turn.”
The Sunsation team has yet to decide what will become of its longtime Algonac facility once the first new building is complete and operations have been moved into it.
“We own the property but I’m really not sure what we’ll do with it,” Schaldenbrand said. “Maybe we will use it for custom work, maybe we will use it for service work. We really need to explore all of our options.”
Schaldenbrand paused and laughed, then added, “Maybe it will just become a big toy box.”
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