SPRINGDALE -- A new manufacturer is filling the vacancy left in Springdale after Karcher North America moved its operations to Fayetteville.
Perry Webb, president and CEO of the Springdale Chamber of Commerce, said a Wal-Mart vendor is moving a plastic injection molding operation into 603 N. Monitor Road. He declined to name the business, but a sign outside the building lists the business names Olivet International and Ecotech Consumer Products. Webb said the new company will employ about 125 people.
Marshall Saviers, a partner with commercial real estate firm Sage Partners, confirmed Tuesday that Olivet leased the building.
"It's net growth for Northwest Arkansas," Webb said. "When you don't have any available buildings, it's hard to grow."
Springdale's industrial vacancy rate was 5.8 percent at the end of the year, according to Xceligent, a commercial real estate information firm. Northwest Arkansas' industrial vacancy rate was 6.9 percent.
The 130,323-square-foot Monitor Road building has been vacant about six months. Saviers said.
Springdale's building inspection department has electric, plumbing and sign permits for the building listed under the company name of Ecotech Consumer Products. The city clerk's office said the company has applied for a business license. Olivet has a sales office in Bentonville.
A message left Tuesday on the cellphone of the contact on the license application was not returned. A message left at Olivet International's headquarters in Mira Loma, Calif., and an email to the company's chief operating officer also were not returned.
Olivet makes luggage, handbags, apparel and outdoor and pet products, according to the company's website. The site also has information about its Made in the USA program. Webb said the company moving into the building was doing so as part of Wal-Mart's pledge in January 2013 to buy an additional $50 billion in U.S. products in the next 10 years.
Karcher, which produces professional-grade cleaning supplies, purchased a building at 2700 S. Armstrong Ave., in Fayetteville for $11.5 million in 2012. The building was owned by JB Hanna and is home to Hanna's Candles Co.
Valerie Johnson, communications manager for Karcher, said the company is using about 300,000 square feet of the building's 663,900 square feet. Burt Hanna, president and CEO of Hanna's Candles, said his company is leasing the remaining space.
"That was divine intervention" Hanna said of the building sale and ability to keep production on site.
Karcher has 90 employees working in Fayetteville, Johnson said. The company had 58 employees in Springdale.
Business on 03/05/2015