With a 63,800-square-foot industrial lease in suburban Chicago, Brown Commercial Group negotiated the sixth space expansion for Elgin Recycling, a fast-growing, environmentally-focused company based in Chicago’s suburban market.  

Brown Commercial Group President Dan Brown has been a strategic real estate advisor for Elgin Recycling for more than 20 years, working to identify and secure commercial real estate space that supports the company’s highly-specialized recycling and demanufacturing processes for businesses and consumers. Broker Collin Tyrrell worked with Dan Brown on the recent transaction at 1101 Wesemann Drive in West Dundee. 

The newly built space is less than two miles from Elgin Recycling’s headquarters at 46 East End Drive in Gilberts. The facility will be used for the company’s electronics division, which supports reducing electronic waste by disassembling and recycling a wide variety of computer equipment. 

The company is one of a select number of businesses nationally — and one of 34 in Illinois — that has achieved a specialized, R2 Sustainable Recycling designation for safely handling end-of-life electronics and their components. Along with its recycling of ferrous and non-ferrous metals from suppliers across the country, the company works with many Fortune 500 companies in the telecommunications and financial services and other sectors to securely manage electronic data destruction and repurpose materials. 

Among the top challenges was the need to move quickly on new space, as Elgin Recycling was leasing space in a building that was being sold. “Timing was everything on this transaction,” said Brown. “Because the building was still under construction, we worked with the ownership and the municipality to gain access to the site and use temporary power and electrical sources while construction was being completed.”

Elgin Recycling was formed nearly 40 years ago and has grown from a one-person operation to one that employs over 100 employees in six locations in Chicago’s northwest, far northwest and western suburbs. The company works with consumers and businesses from throughout the Chicago area and nationally to process, recycle and resell items ranging from consumer goods such as aluminum cans and electronics to industrial scrap metal and large scale cellular servers, computers and other electronics. Approximately 100 million pounds of materials were processed through their facilities last year, a 15% to 20% increase over the past five years. 

The Brown team has also been a liaison with several municipalities for Elgin Recycling, helping to work through zoning approvals and secure special use permits that are required. This process is often complex, given the specialized nature of Elgin recycling’s business and practices.

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