Bolivar commercial building projects take off

Bolivar, the bustling community 23 miles north of Springfield, is expanding with a slate of recent and ongoing building projects valued at close to $41 million.

Tracker Marine

Twenty-five-year-old Tracker Marine added a 75,000-square-foot addition to its existing 300,000-square-foot Bolivar facility in mid-August to accommodate a stretch-form aluminum boat line, said Jeff Gammill, engineering manager.

The project cost is approximately $1 million. Springfield-based Williams Construc-tion was the general contractor; Tracker_s in-house personnel handled architectural design and engineering issues.

Tracker employs about 300 people, Gammill said. He foresees adding at least 50 more employees for this expansion at 1402 S. Killingsworth.

Beyond Bolivar, Tracker has plants in Ozark, Lebanon and Clinton, as well as Miami, Okla., Knoxville, Ark. and Forest City, N.C.

Southwest Baptist University

Work on the Jane and Ken Meyer Wellness and Sports Center at Southwest Baptist University will take place in two phases, said Bob Glidwell, director of physical plant at SBU.

_We_re doing a new building, plus remodel,_ Glidwell said. _The first phase is doing most of the new construction, plus a little bit of remodel, but not very much. The second phase is basically remodeling the old field house._

Phase I_s $7.5 million project began in mid-August and should be complete by the end of May, Glidwell said. It involves work on the school_s 75,000-square-foot sports facility.

Phase II should be done by Sept. 1 and will cost $3.2 million.

When the work is finished, there will be an additional 70,000 square feet of space at the center, including three auxiliary gyms, offices and rooms for aerobics, weights and racquetball.

The general contractor on the project is the Killian Group of Companies Inc., and the architect is Gaskin Hill Norcross Architects/Engineers, Glidwell said.

Citizens Memorial Healthcare

The 74-bed hospital at 1500 N. Oakland is undergoing two phases of construction, said Monica Bethards of Citizens Memorial Healthcare.

Phase I includes 8,925 square feet of new and remodeled space in the emergency room, laboratory, MRI and radiological areas and informational services. The total cost is $3 million, and the estimated completion date is the end of January 2004.

Phase II includes a five-story, 120,000-square-foot tower addition on the east side of the hospital and about 20,000 square feet of remodeled space, Bethards said. Phase II costs are still to be determined, she added, and the project should be complete sometime near 2006. When work is finished the hospital will have more than doubled in size from 110,000 to 230,000 square feet, she said.

The general contractor is Murray Company, and the architect is HMN Architects Inc. Both are located in Overland Park, Kan., Bethards said.

New office building

Mike and Michelle Day are building a 24,000-square-foot office building on Highway 32 that will initially house three businesses, two of which are owned by the Days _ United Flooring Mills and Daycom Inc., a call center specializing in concert promotions. Pro-Factors, a payroll service bureau and service benefits, is the third tenant.

The architect and general contractor is Springfield_s Burns & Associates, while Interior Construction Concepts is doing the interior design, said Larry Burns. Alissa Mudd of Rain Forest Creations if the interior designer.

The space will ultimately accommodate eight to 10 businesses, Mike Day said. Rents will be $12 per square foot with three-year lease minimums. Construction cost is $1.3 million and is financed by Mid-Missouri Bank. Day said he anticipates construction will be complete by February.

Bolivar Industrial Park

Bolivar Industrial Park is preparing to install water and sewer infrastructure to make the park _development-ready,_ said Tiffany Coleman-Dunn, Polk County economic development director.

The 80 acres along Highway 13 that make up the Bolivar Industrial Park were bought from the estate of George W. Powell for about $400,000 in 1993. The purchase was made through Bolivar_s Industrial Development Authority, _a corporation that can do transactions the city_s aldermen can_t do,_ said Milton Dickensheet, Bolivar city engineer.

While there are no businesses located in the park at 2701 W. Aldrich Road, which is zoned heavy industrial, a number have shown interest.

_We had a prospect that was going to use the whole thing at one point in time,_ Dickensheet said.

Ideally, there would be somewhere between six and 10 businesses operating in the park when fully occupied, said L.D. Silvey, president of IDA.

Coleman-Dunn said a $390,300 federal EPA grant to provide water and sewer infrastructure to every lot in the park.

Prior to this work, the park had water and sewer service, but there were limits to where an incoming business could land due to the cost of getting water and sewer to a _particular prospect site,_ she added.

Coleman-Dunn said the bidding process has begun for engineering services for the project, and she expects the work to be finished by May.

Park infrastructure remaining to be done is roadwork. Electricity runs to the park, _but the configuration hasn_t been determined due to (not knowing) who the customers are going to be,_ Coleman-Dunn said.

Tornado shelters

Bolivar Ball Field and Family Activity Center, located at1600 E. Aldrich Road, has added a $73,419, 960-square-foot tornado-safe room designed to accommodate 160 people in the event of dangerous weather while the park is occupied, Dickensheet said.

A 411-square-foot tornado-safe room has also been added to Dunnegan Memorial Park at 601 W. Forrest St., Dickensheet said.

The cost was $65,613 and the room will hold 40 people. Both facilities were built by Shelenhamer Construction LLC of Bolivar, he added.

Corporate hangers

A $141,415, 6,600-square-foot duplex hanger with a partition and a $78,313, 3,700-square-foot single hanger were constructed earlier this year at the Bolivar Municipal Airport by El Dorado Springs_ firm, Miller Construction.

Leo Journagan Construction Co. Inc. did the paving work for $28,000, Dickensheet said.

Roadwork

Leo Journagan Construction also is the contractor on a $2.5 million widening of Aldrich Road, a two-mile, three-lane strip including curbing, gutter, drainage and sidewalk work inside the city limits with a traffic signal addition at Pike Avenue next to Southwest Baptist University, Dickensheet said.

_We_re widening a road in town that will tie in at the Highway T and 13 interchange._

The estimated completion date for the road project will be January, said Flint Wendland, estimator for Journagan.

Meanwhile, the Missouri Department of Transportation is continuing construction on Highway 13, Dickensheet said.

MoDOT is adding lanes to 5.5 miles of Highway 13 and _building interchanges at what will be Route 83, Business 13, Route T and Route 32,_ said Bob Edwards, public information manager for MoDOT. The cost is $21.6 million with a scheduled completion date of fall 2004.