Chamber touts 9 projects, $208M capital investment courted for region in 2024

In October, Jonas Arjes stepped into his new role as the senior vice president of economic development for the Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce.

It might be more accurate to say he took a high-speed rolling jump into the post, action-figure style, with several projects already in motion for chamber officials in the fourth quarter.

By the time the dust settled on 2024, chamber officials had wooed nine new-build or expansion projects to the city. In total, the nine projects are estimated to bring 382 jobs and $208 million in capital investment, chamber officials report.

Since 2014, the Springfield chamber reports its efforts have brought in 76 projects equating to 4,161 new jobs and $880 million in capital investment. The capital investment of 2024 surpasses every year on the 11-year list, nearly doubling the previous high of $109.5 million in 2014.

Of the 2024 successful projects, five of the companies publicly announced their intentions to locate in the Queen City, two more companies have announcements pending and two companies asked to remain unannounced, according to Arjes. He added that seven were established companies in the region, while two unnamed companies were attraction projects, and their factories will be new to the area.

The known projects are as follows:

• Cold Zone, a cold storage logistics company and a subsidiary of the Erlen Group, broke ground in June on a 170,000-square-foot facility in Partnership Industrial Center West.

• Keep Supply, a distributor and supplier of commercial refrigeration parts, will lease 34,000 square feet at 117 Park Central Square, moving from its current location at 601 N. National Ave. with a plan to expand by 100 workers over the next several years. The lease rate was not divulged.

• John Deere Reman, a division of Deere & Co., announced plans for a $13.5 million expansion of its remanufacturing facility in Strafford, with a groundbreaking set for mid-2025 on a 120,000-square-foot addition, bringing the total size to 400,000 square feet.

• Youngstown Glove Co., which manufactures utility gloves for industrial, construction and utility use, plans to expand into Springfield with a new product line – rubber gloves for utility workers – by building a $15 million facility in Partnership Industrial Center West. Construction is under way, according to owner David Henderson. Initially, 20-25 jobs will be created, but that number is expected to reach 75-100 in a few years’ time, he says.

• Creative Modular Construction LLC, which manufactures and erects modular buildings, such as those used by coffee company 7Brew, broke ground in September on a new campus. The investment amount was not disclosed.

While preparing for a March 13 report on 2024 gains for the Springfield Business Development Corp.’s annual meeting, the investment arm of the chamber, Arjes offered some insight on the chamber’s approach to the site selection process in an interview with Springfield Business Journal.

Site selection process
Typically, Arjes said, leads come from the Missouri Partnership, a statewide public-private economic development organization that helps businesses looking to expand into or relocate within the Show Me State.

The partnership works with the Missouri Department of Economic Development. Its website touts comprehensive site selection services, like vetting sites, locating available buildings, compiling information on communities and available workforce and sorting through incentive criteria.

Leads can also come from site selection consultants, and that’s an area Arjes hopes to expand on by building proactive partnerships.

Ben Vickers, the chamber’s manager of business development, said Springfield officials plan to go with the Missouri Partnership this year on six trips to visit with consultants and promote the Springfield market’s economic strengths. Additionally, he said, the chamber’s strategic plan includes the goal of marketing regional assets, including sites and buildings, directly to 100 site selection consultants and businesses representing 50 entities. He added that Jill Finney, the chamber’s newly hired manager of business communications and events, will lead the marketing effort.

Arjes said companies engaged in the site selection process have a number of needs, from logistical – like convenient air, rail or highway access – to workforce-related requirements, factoring in employment levels and regional education and training opportunities.

When the Springfield region gets a request for information through the Missouri Partnership, it will include criteria – elements a company is looking for, Arjes said. This might include acreages if a land deal is sought, or it might include size and characteristics of buildings, such as ceiling heights or the number of dock doors.

“A critical piece is the infrastructure demand that they need in order to operate – the amount of electricity, gas, water or wastewater capacity,” he said.

Not every project is a fit, Arjes said.

“We submit to those opportunities that we have a piece of property or a building that matches – that fully matches, or is close enough that we feel comfortable that it’s worth a shot,” he said.

Sweet spot
Asked if the Springfield region has a sweet spot – a manufacturing area that is a particular strength – Arjes said there are a few. The stainless-steel components industry, with projects ranging from craft brewing to pharmacy-grade equipment, has been a strong industry cluster for the last 50-60 years, and food manufacturing is prominent among existing companies.

Vickers said this can offer an edge.

“A lot of the businesses that are looking for the properties are also looking for the workforce so that they don’t have to spend as much time when it comes to retraining,” he said.

When it comes to workforce preparation, the Ozarks Technical Community College Center for Advanced Manufacturing is an asset, Vickers said, and existing manufacturers, like the Kraft Heinz Co., McCormick French’s, Hiland Dairy and Vital Farms, also contribute to the region’s skilled workforce.

“When you talk about what we would call targeted industries – advanced manufacturing, food manufacturing, anything with metals – any metallurgic process – would be amazing for this community because of the existing workforce,” he said.

He noted that Vital Farms has a strong multiplier effect on the community: Farmers – including some located within the region – provide eggs, which are sold at a premium. Cold Zone storage, counted as one of the 2024 wins, benefits, too, storing the eggs for eventual transport.

“That expansion happened in order to better serve Vital Farms and also position Cold Zone for future growth and to serve other food manufacturers,” he said. “It just has such a ripple effect in the economy whenever we can attract a business like that.”

Food manufacturing has a high multiplier effect compared to some other industries, magnifying the local benefit, he said.

In February, chamber officials partnered with the Missouri Partnership’s Raise the Bar campaign to host a mock site visit in Springfield with an out-of-state site selection consultant. Participants toured Springfield assets, like Ozarks Tech, Springfield Underground, Convoy of Hope, Efactory and downtown to showcase what the region has to offer. The consultant will provide feedback that will help local officials improve their marketing strategy.

“Since this is a relatively new team to the chamber, it also gave us a good excuse to simulate for ourselves and community partners what a visit with ‘all the bells and whistles’ would look like,” Vickers said.

Success story
From the nine investment projects secured by the chamber in 2024, the Youngstown Glove Co. offers a unique window into how one company chose the Springfield Region.

Henderson was a partner at BKD CPAs & Advisors, now Forvis Mazars LLP, but retired – and admits he failed at doing so.

He caught wind of a failing luggage company in Aurora and, through his Blackstone Investment Group Inc., he bought it – “Just to have something to do – to see if we could turn it around,” he said.

He bought other companies, too, including Pacifica, which was the parent company of Youngstown Glove. Henderson said Youngstown Glove has grown much more rapidly than any of his other companies.

The company’s niche is gloves for utilities, Henderson said, and it manufactures almost all gloves used in the industry, with one exception: rubber gloves that line workers wear when they climb a pole.

“It’s actually a life-or-death situation,” he said.

Henderson said a couple of years ago, he started looking to see who was manufacturing rubber gloves for power works.

“We decided to build the company here in Springfield,” he said, noting PIC West turned out to be the perfect location. “The city, county, chamber and City Utilities have all done just a great job of putting that area together. It has all of the facilities virtually any company could need.”

Springfield offered a larger employee pool than Aurora, he said, as well as handier proximity to the airport.

“SBDC really made it easy to work with them, not only through the process of buying the land, but also since then as well,” he said. “All of the approval processes – everything we needed to go through – they’ve been in our corner, helping us.”

Henderson said he hopes to be in production by the start of 2026 and to gain 5%-10% of market share in a year’s time as production takes hold.

“Over time, if we can gain a larger market share, we’ll build an additional facility to manufacture more rubber gloves,” he said.

Other rubber products may follow, he added – like a specific type of rubber blanket that line workers put over a hot wire when they’re working near it, or mats that workers stand on when there’s a chance of electrical conduction.

“The next step after we get the rubber glove factory running at full capacity would be to go into those other areas,” he said.