Business Briefs

Airport shuttle service moving from Parkade

The fast-growing shuttle service Mo-X is moving from Parkade Plaza to the former Lincoln-Mercury-Jeep dealership location on the northeast corner of Providence Road and Business Loop 70.

Mo-X bought the building in July from Mike Kehoe, who bought Cornell Motors in 2004 and two years later sold the inventory of cars and the dealership, which is now part of Machens Motors.

Mo-X co-owner Norm Reubling said the company is moving because it needs more space and wanted a location with more traffic going by. “The visibility there (at Providence and Business Loop) is incredible,” he said.

The company has grown more than 15 percent annually the past few years, and the Parkade office it is renting is only 1,600-square feet, Ruebling said.

The new location also has abundant space for passengers to park and for the Mo-X vehicles, he said.

Columbia Car Care is renting the 6,000-square-foot service area at the back end of the property, and the lease ends in July 2010, Ruebling said. Mo-X is remodeling the 5,000-square-foot showroom area and plans to move its offices there in late October or early November, Ruebling said.

Mo-X (www.moexpress.com) provides transportation between Columbia and the St. Louis and Kansas City airports in van, mini-bus and motor coach, and a round-trip ticket from Parkade booked online costs $81.

The service started in late 1999 and had about 20,000 passengers in its first full year. Ruebling said Mo-X now transports more than 80,000 passengers annually, and the fleet has grown to 13 vans, 5 mini-buses and two motor coaches. The company has 78 employees; half are full-time workers and another one-third work half-time.

In early 2007 Ruebling and his partner, Brent “Doc” Moore, formed a charter bus service in the St. Louis area, Doc & Norm Direct, which transports more than 40,000 passengers in seven motor coaches.

Missouri CORE is awarded $30,000 marketing grant

Jefferson City-The Missouri CORE Partnership has been awarded a matching grant of $30,000 for marketing activities designed to attract new businesses into the 12-county CORE region.  The Missouri Department of Economic Development and the Missouri Partnership provided the grant.

“This funding will give us more opportunities to show businesses and consultants what a great place central Missouri is to do business”, said Executive Director of CORE Mike Downing in a release. “States and communities across the country are fighting for every project, and we have get the message out about our competitive advantages and resources.”

The marketing funds will be used for the development of promotional materials, as well as a Web site, trade shows, meetings with site location consultants and targeted company executives, costs of developing “certified sites,” targeted advertising and promoting the region to the national business media.

United Way launches campaign

The Heart of Missouri United Way launched its annual fundraising campaign Sept. 5 at the Hearnes Field House on the University of Missouri campus.  More than 400 volunteers and community leaders attended a breakfast and a campaign kickoff program prior to dispersing to carry out their volunteer projects.  The theme for the campaign and event is-LIVE UNITED.

The fund-raising goal for the year is $3.25 million, Terry Coffelt, vice-president of First National Bank and 2008 campaign chair, announced during the event.

“Even though we are experiencing some challenging economic times, the United Way Campaign Cabinet is committed to achieving an increase in the dollars raised over last year because the needs in the seven county area served by Heart of Missouri United Way have never been greater,” Coffelt said.”

United Way Day of Caring volunteer projects range from repainting playground equipment at Easter Seals to providing computer skills training for job seekers at Job Point.

For additional information visit the Heart of Missouri United Way web site at 
www.uwheartmo.org.

The District launches new Web site

People starting new businesses and commercial real estate brokers and property owners have a new resource available to them: the Columbia Special Business District’s newly launched Web site, www.businessinthedistrict.com.

The Web site, which launched Sept. 10, expanded the new business section of their old Web site to include ways to recruit business and retain it, according to a release. The new Web site includes a new commercial location guide for independent real estate brokers, updated demographic data, a community resources list and another resource list for new business startups.

The Web site contains information about vacancy listings, marketing data, consumer profiles and development plans and incentives. It also features the State of Missouri’s LocationOne Information System.  The Columbia Special Business District has partnered with the Missouri Department of Economic Development and REDI to offer one-stop shopping for available commercial buildings and sites across the state of Missouri. Although only District properties are listed on the new Web site, other listings can be searched using the LocationOne System.

Delta Systems Group acquires Perryman Technology

Delta Systems Group, a Web database system development company and provider of corporate PC and network support services, announced the acquisition of Columbia-based Perryman Technology, a network and PC support service company Sept. 1.

Delta Systems will take over Perryman Technology’s client roster.  The company has been in business for 22 years.