Fresenius Kabi

Fresenius Kabi broke ground in September 2017 on a $250 million expansion at its pharmaceutical manufacturing site in Melrose Park, Illinois. The expanded facility will be used to produce generic sterile injectable pharmaceuticals for hospitals and clinics across the US. Fresenius Kabi will add four new buildings to the site, with a total floor space of 130,000 SF. The facility will include space for highly automated manufacturing, offices, warehousing of materials, and utilities.

The first project of the multi-phase expansion opened in 2019. Eriksson Engineering Associates, Ltd. (EEA) began working with the pharmaceutical and medical supply producer on permitting the Master Stormwater Management Plan to accommodate the current expansion, associated site development, and future expansions through 2026.

In the Master Storm Water Management Plan, EEA carefully addressed a 20-acre portion of the property located directly in a flood plain. Taking into account the client’s project timeline, EEA also developed a grading plan that provided the MWRD with a basis for permitting by displaying the site improvements. Following EEA’s submission of the Master Storm Water Management Plan, Fresenius was able to begin construction on the southwest building expansion.

While Fresenius continued to move forward with the expansion project, EEA engineers diligently adapted the Master Storm Water Management Plan to include detention and compensatory storage for the entire parcel. The adapted plan meets the permitting requirements of the Village of Melrose Park, Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago MWRD, and the National Floodplain Insurance Program (NFIP), which provides the framework for the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) insurance requirements.

EEA obtained all of the project permits, including a FEMA Conditional Letter of Map Revision (CLOMR) and a Letter of Map Revision (LOMR). The completed permitting process covers all of the planned building projects including the new manufacturing building, new production building, truck docking/shipping, new office buildings, new parking lot, and future building projects.