From the Ground Up: SMC Packaging Group expansion, Phase II

Owner/developer: SOMO Partners LP
General contractor: Storee Construction Co. 
Architect: BRP Architects
Engineers: Cook, Flatt & Strobel, Engineers Inc., civil; Miller Engineering PC, structural; Malone Finkle Eckhardt & Collins Inc., mechanical, electrical and plumbing
Size: 250,000 square feet
Estimated cost: $13.5 million
Lender: Commerce Bank
Estimated completion: February 2020
Project description: SMC Packaging Group is consolidating some of its operations in the Springfield area through a multiphase, $18 million expansion to its Partnership Industrial Center plant. Phase II includes rail siding on the north end of the building to allow the company to receive six rail cars at a time from the BNSF Railway. It also makes room for manufacturing equipment, as well as finished goods and containerboard storage, said CEO Kevin Ausburn. The $4.5 million Phase I, which wrapped up in the spring, comprised remodeling and a 20,000-square-foot addition. “It’ll give us some flexibility and breathing room,” Ausburn said of the expansions, which will bring the total space to 415,000 square feet. SMC manufactures corrugated packaging, packaging supplies and protective shipping cartons.