Company chooses Springfield for new facility

Community Wholesale Tire, Inc., one of the Midwest’s largest tire distributors, began operations at a new 64,000 sq. ft. facility in Springfield on July 13.

As part of the expansion, the company, headquartered in Hazelwood, Missouri, will create 20 new jobs and invest $4.3 million.

Community Wholesale Tire serves more than 3,000 tire dealers with daily delivery in a seven-state area. The new warehouse located in Springfield’s North Creek Business Park will expand the company’s existing warehouse capacity and distribution reach, which is currently based out of St. Louis and Kansas City.

The new facility was built by Rankin Development as a speculative building within Springfield’s Enhanced Enterprise Zone and sold after only eight weeks on the market. Community Wholesale Tire chose Springfield because of its geographic location and transportation infrastructure, which will allow the company to shorten turn-around times for customers further south.

“We were able to significantly accelerate our timetable by locating an existing building,” said Andy Berra, executive vice president of Community Wholesale Tire.  “The building’s location, close to the freeway in the North Creek Business Park, is ideal as it allows us expedited access for inbound and outbound delivery vehicles.”

Chamber economic development staff worked with company officials to access Missouri Worksincentives, assisted the development process during build out, and connected them with the Missouri Career Center, which has been utilized during the company’s recruitment activities.

"Growing businesses continue to invest in Missouri and Springfield as a result of our skilled workforce and low-cost business environment, " said Mike Downing, director of the Missouri Department of Economic Development. "Ready-made buildings, like the one now occupied by Community Wholesale Tire, help companies move in quickly so that they can get to work creating jobs in our communities."