Environmental Works Renovates New Headquarters

Article published in Springfield Business Journal - 4/21/2008

Renovations are under way for Environmental Works Inc.’s new home base.

Owner Robin Melton bought the former Sara Lee Corp. spice plant at 1455 E. Chestnut Expressway in July and plans to move in by August.

“We’re crammed in here like little sardines,” she laughed, referring to the 4,800-square-foot 1016 W. Battlefield Road building where her environmental consulting firm has functioned the last nine years.

Melton’s 35 Springfield employees will have more room to work when they move into the 30,000-sqaure-foot building on 2.5 acres that Melton bought from Ted Smith, retired president of construction company DeWitt & Associates.

Environmental Works added satellite offices in Kansas City in 2003 and in Rolla in 2005.
Using their in-house expertise, Melton and crew completed a Phase I environmental assessment on the 29-year-old building before laying down $1.5 million to buy the building and deciding to spend another $500,000 on renovations.

“At one time, there had been asbestos, but the former tenant had that removed,” she said.
Smith owned the East Chestnut Expressway building since November 1986, but when Sara Lee broke its lease in early 2007 to consolidate spice operations to Oklahoma City, Smith started looking for another tenant or buyer, he said.

Smith hired Jeff Childs of Sperry Van Ness/Rankin Co. to list the property, which Childs said quickly garnered “strong interest from a number of different parties” because of its clean condition and high visibility.

Mark Harrell of Plaza Realty & Management Services represented Melton in the sale.
Melton said the visibility is nice, but it didn’t appeal to her nearly as much as the central location and the opportunity to reuse an existing structure.

“We wanted to renovate rather than build new, if we could,” she said.

“I’m very environmentally friendly. Obviously, we do environmental work for a living.”
Melton said she considered going after Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design certification but determined that it wasn’t financially wise.

She’s still incorporating “green” features, such as energy-efficient heating, ventilation and air-conditioning systems, increased natural lighting and built-in recycling bins.

Springfield Builders Inc. is the contractor and Jack Ball and Associates is the architect for the project, Melton said.

Melton said she hasn’t decided whether she will sell or lease her current headquarters on West Battlefield Road.

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