Convoy of Hope moving distribution center to Republic, O’Reilly Auto buys Convoy’s old building

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (KY3) – A world distribution center is moving its warehouse from Springfield to Republic, along James River Freeway and Highway MM. A 135 acre plot is the future home of the Convoy of Hope warehouse.

The old warehouse on Chestnut Expressway and Patterson holds 6 football fields worth of supplies, yet Convoy says it needs even more space because the need is only growing.

”Three years post Hurricane Harvey and now we have two hurricanes headed for that same general area,” said Convoy of Hope national spokesman Jeff Nene.

From giving aid after natural disasters to feeding more people around the globe, Convoy says its driving passion is growing bigger, especially in a global pandemic.

”We’re approaching 70 million meals that we’ve provided during COVID. More than 50 million in the U.S., and the rest overseas,” Nene said.

That– since March alone. It’s one reason the 20-year-old space isn’t big enough anymore. The new space is only dirt right now, but will be built bigger and much taller.

”When we looked at property on [Interstate] 44 that we wanted to buy, just the property was more than the price of this building, so that meant we were going to have to spend a lot of money to go there. When we found this property on the border of Republic and Springfield, we can almost buy twice as much property and build the building for almost as much as we sold this one for,” Nene said.

The city of Republic is glad to get Convoy, and says Convoy’s reputation has preceded them.

”It doesn’t really add a tax base. It’s a non-profit. So what do we profit out of this? We do development agreements with them… so we are partnering with Convoy of Hope installing infrastructure with them. But we partner with everyone to do these same developments,” said Republic city administrator David Cameron. He says one of his driving passions is who may follow Convoy into this area with easy on and off highway access.

”I believe money follows trust, so when they trust the local government, they’re investing in it. That’s what I believe is happening and again, we just have favor,” Cameron said.

Just like Convoy says it has favor to get in on the ground all over the world– to help those with big need all the way from small town Republic U.S.A.

As for what’s next for the old warehouse building on Chestnut and Patterson: O’Reilly Automotive bought the building. But we do not yet have a timeline on when Convoy will be ready to move into the new warehouse that is being built in Republic, and hand their old space over to O’Reilly’s Automotive.

SOURCE: https://www.w24news.com