Watco opens warehouse, logistics center in Springdale

Pittsburg, Kan.-based transportation and logistics company Watco celebrated the opening of its 185,000-square-foot warehouse and operating center on 13 acres at the I-49 Logistics Park in north Springdale. The warehouse, which opened in August, is at 60% capacity.

Watco hosted a ribbon-cutting ceremony Thursday (Sept. 28) that included executives and area officials, such as Watco CEO Dan Smith and Springdale Mayor Doug Sprouse. Earlier this year, Watco signed a long-term lease to occupy the building at 621 W. Apple Blossom Road, just south of J.B. Hunt Transport Services headquarters. Crossland Realty Group, a division of Columbus, Kan.-based Crossland Construction, is the developer.

The new warehouse and logistics operating center consolidates Springdale operating offices and a Bentonville warehouse into one building. The majority of the 65 Watco employees there work in the 20,000-square-foot office space. Six employees work in the 165,000-square-foot warehouse.

“The new logistics center is not just a building but an investment in Northwest Arkansas,” Smith said. “It represents Watco’s commitment to customers and our priority to meet their growing needs in the future.”

According to a news release, it will serve customers in domestic and international logistics, specializing in full truckload, less-than-truckload, rail/intermodal, air, ocean and inland river barge management. The warehouse will be dedicated to retail services logistics operations, including inbound inventory, storage, outbound distribution, e-commerce management, special projects, roll-out management and reverse logistics.

Watco executives said the warehouse comprises non-merchandise freight of one big-box retailer, but space is available for other customers. The warehouse has 18 dock doors and three ramps, and the racking and floor space to accommodate up to 18,000 pallets of freight.

Andy Moran, senior director of retail services at Watco, said he expects the warehouse to be at about 90% capacity in a month. Before the ceremony, Smith said the company is already discussing the addition of more warehouse space.

“Our goal is to serve as many customers as this market will allow us to serve,” Smith said. “We’re going to continue to invest and grow when appropriate. If we need more space, we’re going to go get it.”

In his remarks Thursday, Moran said the building will be the central home for Watco Logistics, which has 50 locations nationwide. Watco’s logistics division was established about 10 years ago and has 350 employees.

“This is our youngest division in the company, but I would say easily our most dynamic and fastest growing,” Smith said. “This investment is a further representation of just how important supply chain efficiency and the ability to work with customers and create logistics solutions is, so we’re proud to be here.”

Sprouse said the city is working with Lowell and the Northwest Arkansas Regional Planning Commission to seek support for improvements to Apple Blossom Road. He added that a new fire station will be built to the south on Wagon Wheel Road, and the new building will be within the fire station’s service area.

“Your landscape out here is going to change tremendously over the next several years,” Sprouse said. “Besides [Highway] 612 coming nearby, we’re excited about the location. We’re excited about your investment.”

Also, Moran said the new warehouse will soon be home to a technology lab. According to the news release, it’s slated to open in 2024, and the “secured space will offer its own technology infrastructure to prepare product and update existing hardware in bulk.”

Watco Logistics President Eric Wolfe said the new addition will “make us more than a service partner but an extension of the customer.”

Watco was established 40 years ago and provides transportation, material handling and warehousing, logistics, railcar repair, and design and development for customers throughout North America and Australia. The company comprises 5,000 employees on four continents and revenue of more than $2 billion annually.

Smith said its revenue is projected to rise this year and has been over the past consecutive years, including through the pandemic. He noted that some portions of its business have been affected by the freight recession in the transportation sector, but the strength and diversity of its broader business more than offset the impact.