Welliver McGuire to design and build new facility

ELMIRA - Elmira-based Welliver McGuire, Inc. will design and build a 485,000-square-foot warehouse and distribution facility in Cleveland, Ohio, for SYSCO Food Service.

The $10.4-million facility will benefit from a 10-year, 75percent, tax-abatement agreement worth $7.8 million. It will serve as headquarters for SYSCO Food Services, which generated $23.4 billion in sales in 2002.

For Welliver McGuire, based at 911 Stowell St., the project is part of an ongoing relationship between itself and SYSCO. Its most recent project was the completion of a 350,000-squarefoot regional warehouse and distribution facility in Albany. It also built a SYSCO facility in Horseheads, outside Elmira.

Working as Welliver McGuire's design partner will be Stahlman Engineering of New London, N.H., which also worked on the Albany project. The Cleveland project is the fourth collaboration between Welliver McGuire and Stahlman.

The Cleveland facility will replace SYSCO's existing distribution facility and headquarters, currently located in Bedford Heights, Ohio. The project is comprised of a 175,000-square-foot, drystorage warehouse, a 190,000-square-foot freezer/cooler, and a 100,000-square-foot office complex. Also included in the construction is a 20,000-square-foot maintenance garage, and parking for 600 automobiles and 225 tractor-trailers.

Welliver McGuire has grown from a local general contractor to one of the largest construction companies in Central New York and among the nation's 50 largest builders of manufacturing facilities. It has completed more than 400 projects.

Welliver McGuire offers comprehensive construction services including general construction, construction management, and design-build services. Most of its clients are in New York, Pennsylvania, North Carolina and South Carolina.

Growth outside Central New York, though, is vital to the company's continued growth, says Stephen D. Campbell, vice president of operations at Welliver McGuire.

"We need to continue to expand the territory we serve in order to maintain growth," Campbell says.

Construction on the project, which was delayed for five months due, in part, to inclement weather, began in mid-June. The SYSCO plant is located at the Cleveland Business Park.

Welliver McGuire, which has a second office in Harrisburg, North Carolina, is a 105-year-old company that evolved as the result of the acquisition of McGuire & Bennett, Inc. of Ithaca and Wellco, Inc. of Elmira. The fourth generation of Wellivers, A. Scott Welliver and Jeffery S. Welliver, serve as the company's president and vice president respectively. The company has 325 employees and generates annual revenues of approximately $255 million.