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Erlen Group Chairman Louis Griesemer, left, Chief Financial Officer Christina Angle and CEO John F. Griesemer introduce the new umbrella corporation for several businesses.
Photo provided by Erlen Group
Erlen Group Chairman Louis Griesemer, left, Chief Financial Officer Christina Angle and CEO John F. Griesemer introduce the new umbrella corporation for several businesses.

Springfield Underground forms corporate umbrella

Posted online

The Springfield Underground Inc. Board of Directors voted to create a new corporate umbrella for its business portfolio.

The corporation, dubbed Erlen Group, is designed to more efficiently run the Springfield Underground brands. There have been no changes made to the businesses’ leadership team, ownership, operations and branding, according to a news release.

“As we continue to grow and expand our business interests, it was clear we needed to form an umbrella company separate from the Springfield Underground brand to simplify our business operations and provide opportunities to explore new markets,” Erlen Group President and CEO John F. Griesemer said in the release. “The Griesemer family is still very much behind Erlen Group and its brands.”

The Erlen Group owns and operates:
    •    Springfield Underground, which manages 2.5 million square feet of warehouse and data storage 100 feet below ground in northeast Springfield;
    •    Westside Stone LLC, a limestone mine in northwest Springfield;
    •    Joplin Stone Co., a limestone quarry in Joplin;
    •    Cold Zone, a frozen and refrigerated food warehouse inside Springfield Underground;
    •    Umlaut Industrial, a Springfield-based rail transload service provider; and
    •    the Frisco office building at Chestnut Expressway and U.S. Highway 65.

The companies comprising the Erlen Group date back to 1891, according to the release.

Erlen, Griesemer said, means “alder tree” in German, a fact that’s “well-suited for our companies: good stewards of our natural resources and designed for growth.” The Griesemer family also emigrated from Wald-Erlenbach, Germany, according to the release.

Griesemer in January succeeded his uncle, Louis Griesemer, as CEO of Springfield Underground, according to past Springfield Business Journal reporting. Louis Griesemer stayed on as board chairman.

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