Wheeling bath and sauna business looking to double footprint

A Wheeling company that sells steam baths, showers and saunas wants to more than double its warehouse space.

Bathing Brands has proposed a 65,000-square-foot addition at its headquarters, 511 Glenn Ave. The current facility occupies nearly 57,000 square feet.

The 55-year-old company primarily imports and distributes products made in Europe, CEO Dave Sadowski told the village board during a preliminary public review of the plan Monday night. It doesn’t do much retail business.

In addition to the Glenn Avenue facility, Bathing Brands rents space at 441 Carpenter Ave. in Wheeling, as well as in Northbrook, Sadowski said.

The lease on the Northbrook warehouse expires at the end of the year, Sadowski said, and he wants to move the employees there to Wheeling.

The building on Carpenter Avenue was Bathing Brands’ first headquarters in Wheeling, Sadowski said. The company has been there since 2000, but the headquarters moved to Glenn Avenue in 2016, documents indicate.

Most of the proposed addition to the Glenn Avenue facility would be used as warehouse space, Sadowski said.

If approved and constructed, the expansion would make Bathing Brands the largest company in its industry in North America, Sadowski said.

Although no formal action was taken, the proposal received unanimous support from the board.

“Looks good,” Village President Pat Horcher said before the panel turned to other business. “Good luck.”