St. Joseph mayor John Josendale speaks at Hillyard's ceremonial groundbreaking Monday. Photo by Tommy Rezac. By TOMMY REZACSt. Joseph PostHillyard Companies celebrated a project more than five years in the making in St. Joseph Monday.Hillyard held a ceremonial groundbreaking at their St. Joseph headquarters to mark the start of construction on their new distribution center at the former WireCo Worldgroup site.Hillyard's Chief Administrative Officer Brett Carolus says the project would not have been possible without the help of local and statewide leadership."We were confident we could get this done," Carolus said, "but it would only be possible with proper incentives and local support. Our city, our county our state and our new market tax credit partners stepped up to help us turn this vision into a reality."Governor Mike Parson, Lieutenant governor Mike Kahoe, mayor John Josendale and Buchanan County presiding commissioner Lee Sawyer were among the featured guests Monday.Parson says retaining businesses is just as important as bringing new ones to the state, and he credits Hillyard for its many years in St. Joe."It's important to retain (the businesses) that we have," Parson said. "Sometimes, we get to thinking about all new businesses and bringing people here to our communities. That's fine, but you also have to remember who brought you to the dance. Hillyard has brought a lot of people to the dance when you look at how many people they employ here and the investment they made."Hillyard, in 2016, purchased a 25-acre plot from WireCo Worldgroup in downtown St. Joseph, and are now building a new manufacturing and national distribution center to modernize its manufacturing and warehousing operations. Carolus says this did not come without challenges."They're not there today anymore, but there were over 20 buildings on that site that were not conducive to our operation," Carolus explained. "So, they would need to be removed. With any site like this, there needed to be some environmental remediation. It's on a significant hill, which you can't see much today either, because they've already leveled a lot of it off. The site is broken up by city streets, countless utilities and railroad."But through a number of incentives and support from state and local leadership, Hillyard was able to make this project a reality."When you have this many partners, to make something like this happen, it takes awhile," Carolus said. "But, I'm very excited to get to this point and get into the new building."Josendale, the newly elected mayor who spent more than 40 years at WireCo, says the event was special for him personally, as the new Hillyard Distribution Center is being built on a plot that was formerly owned by WireCo."As it became apparent that WireCo wasn't going to be (on the site), to be able to work with them and get the development underway and get them involved in it, I think is an exciting time," Josendale said. "It's an exciting time for the city. The city is very much onboard."State Senator Tony Luetkemeyer, representatives Brenda Shields and Bill Falkner and former mayor Bill McMurray were also among those in attendance.The new Hillyard Distribution Center is set to be operational by the fall of 2023. Founded in 1907 in St. Joseph, Hillyard employs 200 people in the city and 900 people nationwide."Even if you're a business or a company, you're still a public servant to all of the people who work for you," Parson remarked. "I always think that's the success of why we're all here today. Trying to make things better. And St. Joe, you're very fortunate (Hillyard) decided to make this better than what it was for." Governor Mike Parson speaks at the Hillyard ceremony Monday. Photo by Tommy Rezac. Hillyard Chief Administrative Officer Brett Carolus. Lieutenant governor Mike Kehoe. The construction site of Hillyard's new distribution center going up near 3rd and Robidoux Streets. You can follow Tommy on Twitter @TommyKFEQ and St. Joseph Post @StJosephPost.