A manufacturer and developer of cosmetics opened for business Thursday in a new 200,000-square-foot facility in LakeView Corporate Park.

Concept Labs, 10550 86th Ave. — which also formulates and packages skin, body and hair care products — held a grand opening, ribbon cutting and tours of the facility.

The family-owned company relocated its four facilities in Chicago to Pleasant Prairie in the new space, which houses not only its manufacturing division, but Concept Labs’ headquarters, quality assurance and research and development operations.

During the outdoor ceremony, retiring CEO Joel Heifitz, who founded the company with a partner 30 years ago, formally announced he was turning over its operations to his son and new CEO Jordan Heifitz.

“He was my choice,” Joel Heifitz said. “It’s really going to be an amazing next 20 years for him and the team.” According to Heifitz, because of his son’s decisions, the company manufactures more than 1,000 personal care products in more than 60 countries.

The company manufactures brand name cosmetics,along with its own and “third-party” brands, Jordan Heifitz said.

“In 2022 it became very clear that we needed a new facility to support our long-term growth strategy and also operational goals,” he said. The company spent more than a year looking for a site, reviewing more than 50 buildings and locations before choosing Pleasant Prairie.

Jordan Heifitz said his team was drawn to the area because of its skilled workforce, proximity to the country’s “freshest, largest water source” in Lake Michigan, and its strategic and central location for supplying customers.

“You can get to almost any distribution center around the world in less than 24 hours,” he said. “Most importantly … Kenosha, Pleasant Prairie, the state of Wisconsin invested in our future (and) made us feel very at home.”

Currently, company operations take up 75% of available space with plans to occupy the remaining 50,000 square feet on Jan. 1. The operations space features large-scale mixing tanks, semi-automated and automated filling lines, warehouse space and research and development, quality and testing labs.

Read more at the Kenosha News.