Birmingham-headquartered HPM has been selected as the program manager for Buffalo Rock’s recently announced $75M expansion in the Magic City.

HPM is a national leader in the construction and program management field.

According to a Monday release, the firm will spearhead Buffalo Rock’s Birmingham renovation of an 895,000-square-foot warehouse and an approximately 120,000-square-foot office building, which will serve as the central distribution hub for the Alabama food and beverage juggernaut. HPM senior program development manager Bruce Quisno and project manager Jeremiah Owen will oversee the project on behalf of the client.

Buffalo Rock had previously announced that HPM had been tasked with pre-construction planning on the project.

The renovated facilities are expected to be operational by the fall of 2021. Hoar Construction and GMC have partnered to be the lead design-build team for the project.

“Our team selected HPM for many reasons, but most notably because they demonstrated the ability to offer a full suite of planning solutions that carried us from acquisition to operation, and we couldn’t be happier with their performance at this stage of the journey,” stated Matthew Dent, Buffalo Rock president and COO.

“We are not only moving with speed, but we are considering all options and addressing budget questions in real time as we bring this campus restoration to life,” he continued. “I am confident our employee-partners will love the experience this investment creates, and I am certain our customers will see the benefits this investment brings them in terms of service and quality.”

After Buffalo Rock first tapped HPM to oversee programming and planning for the initial stages of the project, the firm led site analysis efforts, including a site assessment involving environmental studies and the hiring of consultants to perform upfront due diligence, which ultimately enabled Buffalo Rock to purchase the almost 77-acre site in Birmingham for the expansion. By performing a cost analysis and identifying which areas of the project to prioritize, HPM reportedly helped Buffalo Rock and its partners identify and control costs in planning, which condensed the overall project timeline.

“I’m pleased with the strategic planning services we were able to provide Buffalo Rock as the company scouted various sites for its expansion, which led them to finding the ideal location off of Lakeshore Drive in Birmingham,” said HPM’s Quisno. “HPM’s expertise in preconstruction planning and site analysis positioned us as the perfect partner to ensure that every detail of the new site was carefully scrutinized and accounted for before any decisions were made, and now we’re ready to oversee the execution of Buffalo Rock’s expansion plans. I know our team is excited to see Buffalo Rock’s growth goals realized, and we’re honored to serve as a strategic partner for a company that continues to invest in Birmingham by expanding its operations here, creating jobs and partnering with the City to develop our community’s workforce.”

This assignment adds to HPM’s growing portfolio of clients and projects specifically within the food and beverage industry, including the recent expansion and improvement of Royal Cup Coffee’s manufacturing facilities in Birmingham. That project received a Manufacturing Innovation Award from ProFood World in 2019.

Read more about Buffalo Rock’s Birmingham plans here.

Sean Ross is the editor of Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on Twitter @sean_yhn