Prestige Cabinets to close Springfield facility

Prestige Cabinets is a subsidiary of Newport Beach, Cali.-based RSI Holding Corp., a $700 million company that purchased Prestige two years ago. The Springfield location, 3110 E. Division St., is known as RSI Home Products.

Russ Hurt, Prestige’s executive vice president and chief operating officer, said the company needs to move because it is “landlocked” at the Springfield location. Officials said they have not set a closing date for the local facility.

An unspecified number of Springfield employees will transfer to the Columbus location, which is set to open Nov. 1.

The company’s expansion into Columbus will make it a major employer, Kansas Lt. Gov. John Moore said at the company’s Sept. 6 ribbon cutting for the new facility.

Prestige’s Columbus location is expected to employ 50 to 60 workers by November. Plans call for 200 workers there within a year and 400-plus employees in three to five years, Hurt said. The company is currently conducting interviews at the new facility.

The 40-year-old, all-wood cabinet company, which also has facilities in Neodesha, Kan., and Independence, Kan., expects to have 1,000 Kansas employees in four to five years, said Alex Calabrese, RSI president and chief operating officer.

Moore said Prestige’s ambitious growth plans in southeast Kansas can be used as a recruitment tool for other companies to establish themselves in the area.

“I believe that this can be a perfect marriage and a perfect site selection,” Moore said.

The 190,000-square-foot Columbus location, 501 S. East Ave., was purchased for an undisclosed amount. It will process lumber for the cabinets and will be a supplier for Prestige’s operating facility in Neodesha.

Corie Russell is a reporter for Joplin Tri-State Business, Springfield Business Journal’s sister publication. She can be reached at crussell@joplintsb.com.