Workers are busy outfitting The Republic Companies large new warehouse, distribution and training center near Des Moines. CREDIT THE REPUBLIC COMPANIES
The Republic Companies is preparing for the Aug. 17 grand opening of a new Des Moines area warehouse and training center that will rival the facilities found in major metropolitan markets such as St. Louis and Chicago. That’s according to Todd Wade, the president of the mechanical division of The Republic Companies. Headquartered in Davenport, […]
The Republic Companies is preparing for the Aug. 17 grand opening of a new Des Moines area warehouse and training center that will rival the facilities found in major metropolitan markets such as St. Louis and Chicago.That’s according to Todd Wade, the president of the mechanical division of The Republic Companies. Headquartered in Davenport, Republic is one of the largest independent wholesale distributors in the Midwest, and it boasts a management team it says “blends a strong and colorful history with aggressive management and technology of today.”The historic company’s current expansion is part of an ambitious modern-day strategy that seeks to expand the company’s footprint across the Midwest. It is being led by company President Mark Kilmer and a team of leaders that includes Mr. Wade.Central to that strategy is modernizing the distribution, service and training Republic offers in the areas of electrical, energy management, heating, air conditioning, hydronics and sign support systems.The brand-new Des Moines warehouse currently being outfitted at 1400 SE 19th St., Grimes, Iowa, grew out of Mr. Kilmer’s “desire to be technologically advanced for distribution, which has tended to be a more antiquated industry,” Mr. Wade told the QCBJ. “It’s not viewed as high-tech, but Mark had a really good vision of what technology could do and how it could kind of change the game.”Among the ways the new location will do that is by combining the electrical and mechanical divisions under one roof. The 22,500-square-foot prime warehouse and training center, located near Des Moines, represents Republic’s largest facility outside of its Davenport home.It also includes a 2,500-square-foot training lab featuring 18 different stations equipped with the latest technology to provide hands-on training to its large and growing family of contractors.“In our world, training is a really powerful tool for our dealers to use and to develop their staff,” Mr. Wade said.“This is the kind of facility you would see in St. Louis or Chicago,” he added. The facility also will be a first for Des Moines, Mr. Wade said, adding “I think it will be really well received for the state to have something like this.”Training won’t be confined only to Republic’s Des Moines area contractors, either. “We view it as a facility that will bring people in from all across our footprint,” he said. “It won’t be just a Des Moines thing. It will be Quad-Cities folks coming, Cedar Rapids folks, Dubuque.”He predicts the facility will have a staff of “upwards of 10” in the next 18 months. That includes trainers, technical staff, counter sales, outside and inside sales, delivery drivers and others needed to make branch work. The facility already has a branch manager after a retired longtime Republic employee, who relocated to Des Moines, reached out seeking a new opportunity.The Davenport-based Republic first began looking to add a Des Moines facility about a year ago and it eventually partnered with Anderson Properties, which owns and is building the new warehouse and training center, Mr. Wade said.“They are probably one of the best commercial real estate companies I think in Des Moines,” Mr. Wade said. Space in Des Moines is difficult to come by, he said, but Anderson found Republic a temporary home while its new facility is being built and made ready for a grand opening that currently is set for Aug. 17.“Picking a partner like Anderson to go to the market was key and they are incredible,” Mr. Wade said of the Des Moines company that builds and markets commercial condo “blanks” of 7,500 square feet. (Republic’s new warehouse is composed of three of those blanks.)Mr. Wade said for Republic, Des Moines is “the first of many new locations to come so this is just the start of it for us.”
