A hole has been cut in the east wall of Van Meter Industrial's central distribution center (right) at 915 32nd Ave. SW in preparation for construction of a 70,000-square-foot addition. A passageway will be constructed between the distribution center and a building (left) recently purchased by Van Meter Industrial. The passageway will be home to the company's new sales counter. George C. Ford/SourceMedia Group News

CEDAR RAPIDS — A southwest Cedar Rapids distributor of electrical, automation, lighting, data communications and power transmission supplies is expanding its warehouse facilities.

Van Meter Industrial, 850 32nd Ave. SW,  has broken ground for a 70,000-square-foot expansion of its central distribution center at 915 32nd Ave. SW. The $5 million project will nearly double the space Van Meter Industrial has for its inventory and processes.

Cedar Rapids-based Van Meter Industrial purchased a building at 847 32nd Ave, SW, located directly to the east of the central distribution center, and plans to construct an addition between the two buildings. The employee-owned company also will remodel its existing warehouse, relocate its Cedar Rapids retail sales counter and expand operations.

Shawn Gerdes, Van Meter Industrial

Plans to acquire a new property began 18 months ago when its employee owners realized the space Van Meter Industrial had for inventory was going to become inefficient as the company kept growing.

“The decision to purchase a new building was made to gain more space for our growing inventory, to offer more custom solutions for our customers, to improve safety, and to be more energy efficient,” said Shawn Gerdes, vice president of operations at Van Meter Industrial.

After the improvements are completed, the warehouse will have a new sales counter with a drive-thru large enough for four vehicles, an improved use of space for picking inventory and an expanded wire center. The project will use Van Meter Industrial’s resources for lighting product, layout, technical expertise and automation.

Ryan Companies US Inc. will be the general contractor for the project. The new sales counter is scheduled to be completed this winter and the goal is to have all improvements to the current building and new building finished by the second quarter of 2011.

When the expansion is completed, Van Meter Industrial will have 236,400 square feet of facilities in Cedar Rapids.

“We are willing to make this investment because this expansion will allow us to promote more services for our customers and allow us to grow in the future,” Gerdes said.

Van Meter Industrial has 13 branch locations throughout Iowa, serving the industrial, contractor, original equipment manufacturer and system integrator markets.