United Warehouse is Expanding — AGAIN!

The Wichita-based storage and distribution company broke ground this month on a $3.5million, 100,000 square-foot expansion of its distribution center at 901 E. 45th St. North. The Law Company is the contractor. The company completed a 200,000 square-foot warehouse at the site in October. It was full by January, said United Project Manager Mike Schaefer. The company will also break ground by the end of the month on a 336,000 square-foot warehouse in Tulsa.

The company was founded in 1915 and bought by the Schaefer family in the 1950's. Until last year, United Warehouse's only facilities in Wichita were leased buildings on East Waterman and Indianapolis streets, totaling 150,000 square feet. It also leases space in Tulsa and in Lenexa. The space the company controls will have about doubled in the course of two years. "It hasn't overwhelmed us, but it has surprised us a bit," Schaefer said. "But it's a good surprise." He said the company's popularity has climbed as large companies shed leased industrial space to cut costs and increased flexibility. United Warehouse rents space without a long-term contract.

United Warehouse stores, handles, packages and transports manufactured goods for such companies as Coleman, General Electric, Metal Container and Ball container. The company has 72 acres on 45th Street North, and with the latest addition and [planned] rail spur, it has taken up only 30 acres. "So we're not done developing," Schaefer said.