Polar Tank Trailer expands Partnership Industrial facility

Polar Corp., based in St. Cloud, Minn., held a groundbreaking ceremony Nov. 9 to begin a 25,000-square-foot expansion of its Polar Tank Trailer facility in the Partnership Industrial Center.

The Springfield operations, 4925 E. Kearney St., manufactures trailers to haul dry bulk materials for the construction industry, as well as trailers to haul gasoline and petroleum fuel products.

The expansion, listed at $1.02 million in a building permit filed with the city of Springfield, will bring the 240-employee facility to 105,000 square feet.

David Gress, general manager of the Springfield plant, cited increased need for both production and warehouse space as the reasons for the expansion.

“This is the only facility in the company that makes the gasoline and petroleum trailers,” Gress said. “That’s the product that has experienced the largest amount of growth.”

Rich Kramer Construction is the general contractor on the project, and Warren & Goodin Engineers-Architects PC is the designer of the expansion, which Gress said is on schedule to be completed by the end of January.

Polar Tank Trailer’s PIC building is one of two company facilities in southwest Missouri; Nixa is home to a plant for sister company Quality Trailer Products, which manufactures and distributes components for light- and medium-duty trailers.

The Polar Tank expansion is a sign that new growth at the original Partnership Industrial Center is ongoing, even though Springfield’s Partnership for Economic Development, the group that spearheaded the 13-year development of the center, celebrated successful build-out of the 360-acre site in August.

Greg Williams, economic development director for the Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce, said many of the companies at PIC purchased lots that give them the option for future expansion.

“Some companies knew that they needed 40,000 square feet and they’d need 40,000 square feet forever,” Williams said. “But I’d say probably more than 50 percent of those firms have purchased ground on which to expand someday.”

The Partnership Industrial Center is home to 21 companies.

Williams said the timing of those expansions would be on a case-by-case basis.

Stamina Products purchases PIC West land

While existing tenants are expanding their presence at the original Partnership Industrial Center, similar activity is happening at PIC West.

Springfield-based home fitness equipment manufacturer Stamina Products, one of the first tenants of the center, closed a purchase earlier this month on seven acres of land adjacent to the company’s current facility.

The goal, according to company partner Bob McBride, is to add a 50,000-square-foot building to house a new line of high-end fitness equipment aimed at health clubs. McBride would not disclose the cost of the project.

“They started pushing dirt the day we closed on it,” McBride said of the property, purchased for an undisclosed amount.

He added that the timetable calls for the building to be operational in the spring.

“We’re still fine-tuning what the internal design will be,” McBride said. “We wanted to beat the weather with the outside shell of the building, so we pushed that through pretty quick.”

Stamina was the first company to purchase land at the west facility, buying eight acres in December 2001. The move was an effort to consolidate what was then an operation in four different locations around Springfield.

The company is one of four tenants at PIC West; others are Executive Coach Builders, Cabinets by RKC and Gold Mechanical.

Greg Williams, economic development director for the Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce, added that interest is also picking up in other areas of the west center.

He mentioned the center’s 75,000-square-foot speculative building, built in 2005 by Springfield Industrial Properties LLC. Williams said negotiations are ongoing to sell the building, currently listed at $2.15 million on the PIC Web site.

He added that a prospect registration was received Nov. 14 for a potential purchase of a six-acre lot at the west center. “So there’s some decent interest there.”[[In-content Ad]]