Colorgraphic Printing plans for move to West Division Street

A Springfield printing company is mo-ving to a new location this spring to make way for Jordan Valley Park. Colorgraphic Printing Inc. still is operating in the 21,500-square-foot structure at 925 E. Trafficway. But by the end of May, the company will move to a new 33,000-square-foot building at 4050 W. Division.

Steve Johnson, Colorgraphic president and chief executive officer, said it will take five to six weeks to complete the move.

"Each piece of equipment has to be taken apart and reassembled," he said. "One press will take three truckloads to move."

Johnson said the company's approximately 40 employees are very excited about moving.

"They live on the fringes of Spring-field," he said. "After the move, they won't have to go to the center of the city. They also like the fact that the new building is larger."

But Johnson isn't as excited about the move as his employees are.

"I've been in negotiations with the city, about this move for three years," he said. "None of that is enjoyable. Finally, it came down to either going to court or settling."

The city paid Johnson $1,450,000 for the Trafficway property, he said.

Johnson declined to say how much he paid for his new property, but he did say it cost more than what he was paid for the Trafficway property. The real estate agent for the purchase was Bob Murray of R.B. Murray Company.

Colorgraphic's new Division Street building sits on a 10-acre tract of land, which allows plenty of room for the plant and for parking.

Johnson also purchased 40 acres of land near the new location. Of those, 10 acres have been sold, and Johnson has two other tracts for sale. He's keeping about 10 of the 40 acres for Colorgraph-ic's use in the future.

"I bought the land in case we need room to grow," he said.

Johnson chose the new location be-cause he speculated there would be growth in that area of town.

He said tht both the traffic congestion and the cost of the land is less in that area.

Ken-Mar Construction, 2643 W. Col-lege, is the general contractor for the new building.

Colorgraphic Printing does commercial, sheet-fed print work. The company also handles direct mail, catalogs, bro-chures and some paperback books. A small press is used for letterhead, en-velopes and carbonless forms.

Johnson said the downturn in the economy has had an effect on his company.

"Most of last year was soft," he said. "But then, practically every industry is soft. The company is off a few percentage points. But I've seen improvement since last December."