McLane Co. breaks ground in Republic

The city of Republic spent Nov. 10 celebrating strides made by its economic development team. The festivities began by breaking ground on a piece of property off of Farm Road 160, the site of a future grocery distribution plant expected to bring hundreds of jobs to the area.

In February, Temple, Texas-based supply chain services firm McLane Co. Inc., announced plans to build a 450,000-square-foot distribution center in Republic.

Prasad Gadiraju, executive vice president of Texas-based Construction Management Technology, said the $30 million center is still more than a year away from being operational.

Not yet hiring

Officials said there have been no staffing decisions made outside of appointing Sean Kraemer, currently a senior vice president at McLane's Nicholasville, Ky., distribution center, as the Republic center's division president.

Kraemer said it was too soon to determine when the first stage of hiring would begin. Managerial and administrative staff positions are likely to be the first filled.

Gail Noggle, director of planning and development for the city of Republic, said because highly technical robotics would be used at the center, job training may not be able to start until the facility is finished.

"We're probably looking at the first quarter of 2011," she said.

McLane officials have backed off their earlier estimates of more than 400 employees on board.

"We're still just formulating a lot of our plans based on the construction estimates and everything else," Kraemer said. "As we get up to full operations, it will be between 300 and 400 people."

Branson-based Tom Boyce Excavating Inc. is the first local subcontractor hired for the project. Gadiraju said CMT will bid out concrete work next, but that process is still at least two months out.

Adjacent business

Area business owners are anxious to see the types of businesses that can benefit from proximity to the distribution center.

"Everyone's trying to figure out ... whether there's a type of company that likes to be around McLane, whether it's a service company or maintenance," said Keith Roberts, who is developing the nearby Brookline Business Park. "At first, we thought maybe something to service or maintain the trucks, but it turns out (McLane performs) all that in-house."

Roberts bought the 82 acres in 2003, and he expects to put the 14 lots in Phase 1 up for sale by March 1. His plan was slowed by the economy.

"We're doing it in phases, where originally we started to do it all at one time," he said. "The economy is a lot different than it was two years ago."

Republic Mayor Brian Buckner said there is plenty of land near the plant available for development, but he hasn't noticed an increase in residential or commercial construction since McLane's announcement.

Buckner said Republic's economic development department is reviewing areas surrounding McLane's other distribution centers in search of potential businesses that could be a good fit for Republic.[[In-content Ad]]