Prime Inc. plans $50M headquarters expansion

Last edited 6:30 p.m., May 7, 2015

Killian Construction Co. President Bill Killian said today the Springfield-based contracting firm was hired to build a $50 million expansion of Prime Inc.’s Queen City headquarters, 2740 N. Mayfair Ave.

“This is an expansion to the west. It will involve a new entry for Prime off of Kearney and Packer Road,” Killian said, noting construction would start this summer and wrap up by fall 2016.

Killian said the expansion plans stemmed from recent conversations he’s had with Prime trucking founder and President Robert Low. Last week, Killian Construction revealed Low had become an investor in the company and that 20-year Prime veteran Chad Clay was hired as the contractor’s CEO.

Clay said the expansion of the transportation company’s headquarters would include three new buildings and a $6 million administrative office addition, which currently is underway.  

The largest planned building is a 60,000-square-foot, 26-bay tractor-trailer shop, which would include an area for vehicle parts as well as showers and locker rooms for drivers. There also would be a 46,000-square-foot, 20-bay plaza building for in-bound and outbound trucks, as well as a 22,000-square-foot wash bay.

“We’ve grown based on necessity, and it’s never been fast enough,” Clay said. “We looked up one day and said, ‘Nothing is where it should be. Everything is out of whack.’ It doesn’t make sense where all the buildings are. And Mayfair is a crappy road.”

He said Prime officials heard the Missouri Department of Transportation and Greene County were planning an expansion of Packer Road north of Kearney, helping to spur plans. Clay said Prime is now sharing costs on the expansion with the county and MoDOT.

“There’s going to be a light there, and that will be our new entrance,” he said, adding the estimated completion date on the street extension is Nov. 1, 2016. “It should greatly improve traffic flow.”

Prime purchased 103 acres immediately west of its Springfield campus in 2010 for $7 million with tentative expansion plans in mind, according to Springfield Business Journal archives.

Clay said no architect for the Springfield Prime campus has been selected and that Killian Construction is currently soliciting design proposals.[[In-content Ad]]