German Automotive Supplier Chooses Albert Kahn

Albert Kahn Associates Inc., a planning, design and management firm headquartered in Detroit, has been commissioned to provide programming and schematic design for a new technical center for German automotive supplier Kolbenschmidt Pierburg AG.The new Kolbenschmidt Pierburg Technical Center will be built on a12.5-acre site in Auburn Hills, MI, off Harmon Road, just east ofGiddings Road.

The multi-story facility will be composed of office, prototype assembly, laboratory, and testing areas. A three-phase building program is expected to allow the Technical Center to reach 100,000 sf, with the future ability to increase to 215,000 sf.Ultimately, as many as 500 employees from at least seven Kolbenschmidt Pierburg auto divisions from around the world may be brought to the new location.

Sandra Knight, a spokeswoman for Albert Kahn, said it’s too early to discern the cost of the development. Pierburg Instruments Inc., a division of Kolbenschmidt Pierburg, employs 45 employees at its current location, a 28,000-sf, leased office and manufacturing space, also in Auburn Hills.

Kolbenschmidt Pierburg AG designs and manufactures systems for internal combustion engines, and posted sales of $1.6 billion in 1999. It is a division of Rheinmetall Group, a German corporation with sales of $4.8 billion.

“Based on their knowledge base and our experience in working with them during the conceptual site analysis phase, [Albert Kahn was] our first choice above the other architectural and engineering firms competing for this contract,” says Peter Kaub, president of Pierburg Instruments Inc., and an executive vice president of KS International Investment Corp.