Fireworks distributor prepares to move

Fireworks Over America, a subsidiary of Springfield-based Ingram Enterprises Inc., is moving its headquarters to a recently purchased 29-acre tract near Highway 65 and Interstate 44.

The land, purchased in March by another Ingram subsidiary MO-SC Columbia LLC, will house a 105,000-square-foot fireworks packaging facility on seven acres.

Owner Mike Ingram plans to subdivide the remaining 20-plus acres into one- to two-acre plots for light industrial use. Dave Murray of R.B. Murray Co. helped facilitate the land purchase and will list the available sites once they’re platted.

Ingram said the new facility will replace the 24,000-square-foot headquarters at 6597 W.

Independence Drive, visible from I-44.

Fireworks Over America does packaging work exclusively. Ingram said that almost all fireworks manufacturing and assembly is done in China.

Ingram said his passion for fireworks has been burning since he was a teenager.

“I started in business with a little stand made of scrap lumber from a scrap yard in Branson when I was 15,” he said. “I expanded a little each year through college in retail sales, and upon graduation from college I bought out my wholesaler.”

He continued to expand, forming Fireworks Over America in 1989.

The new facility will have about 85,000 square feet of warehouse space, with the remainder holding a Fireworks Supermarket showroom, assortment packaging and offices for Ingram Enterprises, an umbrella company which covers Fireworks Over America, MO-SC Columbia LLC and real estate firm Ingram Investments Inc.

It will be the company’s fourth distribution site nationally – others are located in Indiana, South Carolina and just outside of Kansas City – and its 14th retail location. Fireworks Supermarket stands are sprinkled throughout the Midwest and Southeast, predominantly in Missouri and Tennessee.

Ingram declined to disclose company revenues.

Architect Butler, Rosenbury & Partners is designing the building, with Wirt Construction Co. acting as general contractor. Ingram said designs are being finalized and the building should be complete by fall 2007.

The Signature Bank financed the purchase; Ingram declined to disclose the land purchase price, though the deed of trust filed with the Greene County Recorder’s Office lists the price at $1.2 million.

Light industrial need

Most of Ingram’s land was voluntarily annexed into the city limits in March; the seven-acre tract was not incorporated due to city regulations prohibiting storage of consumer fireworks inside city limits.

Ingram plans to subdivide the remaining 20-plus acres into one- to two-acre plots for light industrial use.

Real estate agent Murray said the land will fill a need in the city.

“What we’ve had for the last several years are large tracts for manufacturers, whereas these are small tracts for light distribution,” he said. “That type of (land) has been absent in the city.”

The extra land in the development will be split into about 10 lots, Ingram said. While land won’t be sold until city infrastructure is installed this summer, he added that there has been interest in the property from prospective buyers even before the property is officially listed.

Greg Williams, senior vice president of economic development for the Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce, said light industrial use for the land would tie in well with the businesses at the neighboring Partnership Industrial Center.

“The critical mass of industry, suppliers and various warehousing and distribution facilities in northeast Springfield has really developed handsomely since the industrial park was first created,” Williams said. “It’s just another addition to the mix and to the blend of business in that part of town.”

PIC tenants are bound by protective covenants that spell out allowed uses – assembly, production or manufacturing – and minimum square footage requirements, and Williams said there’s a reason for that.

“For our selfish motivation, it was that manufacturing historically has created the highest volume of jobs,” Williams said. “Distribution is a very important element of this community, but the private sector has done a tremendous job in meeting the site needs and building needs of warehousing, distribution and commercial enterprises.”[[In-content Ad]]