Homegrown Headquarters

The Killian Group of Cos. is retrofitting an East Kearney Street building for new headquarters, while Conco – the area’s largest supplier of concrete and aggregate – is renovating space in the historic Wilhoit Plaza building in downtown Springfield. Both projects are moving ahead full throttle, and the companies are hoping to move their operations early next year with little or no interruption to daily businesses.

Killian Group President Bill Killian said he has mixed emotions about the big changes awaiting his company.

“As excited as I am about moving, I still have a sense of nostalgia about where the company’s been over the past 40 years,” Killian said.

Killian’s father, Robert, renovated a 500-square-foot machine shop at 1835 S. Stewart Ave. in the 1950s, and the construction business has been based there ever since.

Conco, on the other hand, isn’t conflicted about leaving its offices on the third and 10th floors of the Woodruff Building after 15 years, said Tom Baird IV, the company’s sales and marketing director.

“We’re all ready to go,” he said, mentioning long-running heating and cooling problems in the older office building. “And we think we can be a lot more productive and efficient if we’re on one level.”

Killian starts anew

As it grew through the years, the Killian Group, which includes Killian Construction, KCC Contractors and Midwest Building Co. in Springfield and Killian Eastern in Indianapolis and Killian Western in Glendale, Ariz., added a satellite office on South Stewart Avenue and a large warehouse on East Pythian Street.

“We’d like to get everybody back under one roof,” Killian said.

Company officials initially considered adding on to the Pythian warehouse, but they quickly realized the expansion wasn’t feasible. “We outgrew that (possibility) while we were trying to plan it,” Killian said.

Shortly after abandoning the expansion plan, a friend told Killian about a piece of land for sale at 2664 E. Kearney St. near Bass Pro Shops’ corporate offices. Killian purchased the seven-acre parcel, the former site of a roller-skating rink, which he said would give the company plenty of room to build and expand. Its proximity to Highway 65 is also a plus, he said.

Killian crews have torn down all but one wall and the skeleton of the former Roller City. A2S04 Architects of Indianapolis designed the 39,000-square-foot headquarters building, said Duane Prewitt, Killian’s senior vice president of preconstruction services. About 26,000 square feet will be finished as office space and the remaining area will serve as a warehouse, Prewitt said.

Engineers are TLF Consulting Engineers of Indianapolis, structural; and Springfield firms Malone Finkle Eckhardt & Collins Inc., mechanical, electrical and plumbing; and Global Link Land Surveying & Engineering Inc., civil.

Killian Construction will act as general contractor for the $2 million project, which is being financed by Empire Bank. Construction began earlier this fall, and the company hopes to move in this spring.

The new “mother ship” – as Killian refers to the home office – will have a workout area, a conference room for 20 to 25 people and an area for employees to relax and celebrate special occasions.

Luther Salonen, Killian’s chief financial officer, said the move can’t come fast enough. With close to 50 new employees in the last two years, Killian is bursting at the seams in both offices, he said.

“I like the office we’re in now, but we’re just so cramped,” Salonen said.

Of Killian’s 80 employees, about 45 will have offices in the new headquarters.

Conco’s downtown upgrade

Conco is renovating space on the second floor of the Wilhoit Plaza building, just three blocks south of its current location. The offices will occupy about 12,000 square feet on the building’s west end, where renovations began in August.

“We have a longstanding interest in downtown, and we want to continue to be here,” said Bill Adams, Conco’s director of business development.

Dock Brothers Construction is the general contractor for the $900,000 renovation project, and Bates & Associates is the architect. A new elevator and heating, ventilating and air-conditioning system are among the improvements.

Adams said Wilhoit Plaza’s historic appeal influenced the design, which will feature a restored terrazzo floor original to the building. Crews will clean and seal the tiles once remodeling is complete, he said.

The new office space will centralize Conco’s varied departments, which include information systems, accounting, dispatch, management and sales. An elliptical hallway and windows on interior walls will make it easier for employees to move around and communicate, Baird said.

“What we wanted to do was break down the barriers between people,” he said.

Conco’s dispatch center, which serves as the company’s nerve center, also will receive much-needed upgrades, Adams said.

Routing concrete trucks to and from Conco’s quarries and its customers’ construction sites is a high-tech operation, Adams said. The dispatch center is equipped with weather radar and uses Global Positioning System satellite technology to track its trucks, he said.

Conco employs 180, owns quarries in Galloway and Willard, and operates ready-made plants in Springfield, Nixa, Republic and Hollister, according to its Web site.

Other anticipated amenities in the new office are a large executive conference room overlooking Pershing Street and a small employee break room with a TV.

“We’re going to be excited to get in here,” Adams said, adding that Conco hopes to settle into its new headquarters early next year before the construction season is in full swing.

Set in Stone

Killian Group of Cos.

Year founded: 1948

Top executive: Bill Killian

Revenues: $111 million (2004)

Employees: 80

New headquarters: 2664 E. Kearney St.

Former headquarters: 1835 S. Stewart Ave.

Conco Cos.

Year founded: 1947

Top executive: Rob Baird

Revenues: WND

Employees: 180

New headquarters: Wilhoit Plaza

Former headquarters: Woodruff Building