Gross & Janes Moves Headquarters to Historic Kirkwood, Missouri

Gross & Janes Co. has moved its headquarters into a historic, 135-year- old building by the railroad tracks in downtown Kirkwood, Missouri. We now occupy approximately 2800 square feet of newly renovated office space at 157 W. Argonne Avenue, across the street from the historic Kirkwood Train Station.

Our company has a rich 90-year relationship serving the nation’s railroad industry, and this new location perfectly reflects our culture and our future. This new space also gives us room to grow, as our business and employment base are on track to increase by 20 percent this year.
To commemorate our move to Kirkwood, we are planning an Open House event for our customers on October 27th to include a tour of our newly renovated new offices followed by a reception with our staff at the nearby Kirkwood Train Station. We will also be offering an opportunity for our cus- tomers to meet one-on-one with Dr. Jeff Lloyd of Nisus Corporation and Dr. Adam Taylor, from the University of Tennessee, to learn more about our new borate treatment process for crossties.

Downtown Kirkwood is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Railroads’ Comeback Fueling Stronger Crosstie Demand

Railroads are making a strong comeback from the 2008 – 2009 economic recession, which bodes well for the crosstie industry. Freight forecasts are substantial, and the perceptions on future earning potential are prompting the major railroad companies to move ahead with capital investment plans that were previously put on hold.

At the same time, the federal government wants railroads to handle more (and faster) passenger trains in the future. This is making railroads very busy places in the years ahead.

We are seeing strong demand from our customers for new crossties over the next 24 – 36 months. This means that sawmills will be busy filling this demand in all areas of the country. We are proud to have a well-established and reliable network of sawmills to meet the crosstie needs of our customers.

With the energy and transportation efficiencies of railroads continuing to improve, I am hopeful that this strong demand forecast over the next 2-3 years will stay on track.

Marketplace Report – Second Quarter 2011

A random survey of selected sawmills was taken the week of August 22, 2011 to develop this non- scientific snapshot of the crosstie purchasing market. This report is broken down into four primary log harvesting regions covering portions of Missouri, Arkansas, Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi (see map). It covers both oak and mixed wood logs.

The overall lumber market has been depressed, thanks in large part to the slowdown in the construc- tion industry. This uncertain demand caused sawmills to be cautious with their inventories, which in turn has held down lumber production. With log prices generally stable and fuel cost decreasing, we think log production would be at normal levels but for the impact of the depressed market.