Building supply firm to expand with $3M investment

Last edited 3 p.m., May 23, 2012

A St. Peters-based building supply company is expanding its Ozarks presence with the addition of a 30,000-square-foot building in north Springfield. The project would be aided by nearly $300,000 in local and state tax credits.

Arrowhead Building Supply Inc., a distributor and wholesaler of exterior building supplies and materials, held a groundbreaking this morning for the 3020 N. Martin Ave. facility, a site located about a mile east of the U.S. Highway 65 and Interstate 44 interchange.

The company is planning a roughly $3 million capital investment to construct the building and purchase equipment. Arrowhead also immediately will begin hiring 10 employees, which would push its existing local work force to about 21.

Arrowhead General Manager Jim LoPiccolo said the Springfield facility would replace a smaller Stafford office - which opened in 2009 - located about five miles away down I-44.

"We came to town ... and we wanted to try it out on a small scale," he said of the Stafford facility. "Our service platform works extremely well there."

The new facility, which Arrowhead hopes to occupy by Sept. 1, would serve clients in a 100-mile radius, LoPiccolo said. Arrowhead Marketing Manager Karen Kluesner added that Williams Construction Inc. is the general contractor for the project, with architecture work by Werner & Associates LLC.

Aiding the company's local investment is $276,955 in state and local benefits through the Missouri Department of Economic Development and the city of Springfield's Enhanced Enterprise Zone tax incentive program. To receive assistance, Arrowhead has worked with the DED and the Springfield Partnership for Economic Development, which comprises the Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce, Springfield Business Development Corp., Greene County, the city of Springfield and City Utilities, according to a news release from the chamber.

Arrowhead, founded near St. Louis in 1997, also operates a 26,000-square-foot Hollister store and warehouse at 181 Hollister Point Drive in the Hollister Pointe Commercial Retail Park, and in Pevely, Lowell, Ark., and Belleville, Ill.