From the Ground Up: Creative Audio headquarters, Phase I

Owner/developer: Creative Investments Distribution Holding LLC
General contractor: Construction Processing Co. LLC
Architect: Burns Architecture
Engineers: Anderson Engineering Inc., civil and structural; and Burns Architecture, mechanical, electrical and plumbing
Size: 25,000 square feet
Estimated cost: $1.5 million
Lender: Commerce Bank
Estimated completion: Early September
Project description: Creative Audio owner Don Fleury is building a multiphase headquarters and distribution center for his five-store mobile electronics business. Crews broke ground in early December 2018, at the nearly 7-acre property fronting U.S. Highway 65, said Construction Processing Co. owner George Hensley. An initial May or June completion date was pushed back due to weather. “The cold wasn’t so much,” said Fleury, “but the wet for getting the dirt work and the footings and the concrete set. It was a very, very wet winter.” With the headquarters move to Ozark, Fleury has said he intends to hire up to 30 employees in the next five years. Currently, Creative Audio employs 46 in Springfield, Joplin, Sedalia, Columbia and Pittsburg, Kansas. Hensley said the new building has ceilings up to 28 feet tall for warehousing space and a tornado safe room.