Grand Rapids Business Journal Whirlpool is exploring a multiyear, $50 million project to renovate or rebuild its technology center in southwest Michigan. The Benton Harbor-based global appliance maker Whirlpool Corporation (NYSE: WHR) proposed options to rebuild or renovate its global technology center in St. Joseph, near the company’s global and North American headquarters in Benton Harbor, according to the southwest Michigan economic development agency Cornerstone Alliance on Thursday. Proposals for new construction at the existing St. Joseph site include a possible 150,000 square feet of new construction with an investment of about $50 million. The new facility would replace much or all of the existing St. Joseph Technology Center, parts of which are more than 100 years old.