Underground Business in Oakville-of the Literal Sort

Instead of a typical high-rise, this unique office park, Bussen Underground, is located beneath the earth’s surface. Not many towns can boast such an opportunity, but Oakville, Mo. has the landscape to pull it off.

Many people in the community do not know that such an office park exists right in their back yards. The area around the Mississippi river in Oakville is relatively untraversed by the typical Oakville resident. Factories and quarries meet wild, untamed bluffs, meet private property.  Without many attractions to bring people down to the river, it is easy to see how this vast underground project gets overlooked.   

The office park is the effort of Mark Bussen of Bussen Quarries.  The quarry has been in business for 129 years. The businesses that reside in the relatively new underground development include everything from food products to stainless steel production and promotional packaging.

Typically, at Bussen Quarry they mine the limestone in an open pit. However, after seeing that they mine their limestone underground and then turn the space into warehouses in areas around Kansas City, Bussen decided to try out the idea. The endeavor has been one worthwhile as businesses have thrived in the underground air since the late 1980s.

One of the benefits of building offices and warehouse underground is the controlled air temperature. The air stays a constant 65° to 72° through winter and summer. Without a high necessity for year-round heating and air-conditioning, Bussen suggests that the businesses that work in the area save as much as 75 percent on their energy bills. While a few businesses report savings, some suggest that what they save in heating and air conditioning they spend on dehumidifiers.

Brad Sherman, president of Sherman Products Company, brought his company into the underground space in May. Previously, they operated out of a factory in Fenton. He expects to report high energy savings by the end of a full year in the underground. Where the previous factory was almost impossible to heat in the winter and reached uncomfortable heat temperatures in the summer, the new warehouse has no need for either heat or air conditioning. The workspace for the men is now a constant temperature. Sherman believes that this will increase production.

The men working in the warehouse seem ambivalent about the space. For most of them, working conditions are more pleasant when it comes to temperature than other outdoor factories and warehouses. Tom Dittrich works in the Sherman Products Company factory and says that while the temperature is nice, he misses the sunlight.  Several of the workers said that they do not see the sun during the winter. Going into the tunnel in the morning dark and leaving in the evening, they have to wait for the weekends to see sunlight.

“You have to take the good with the bad,” Dittrich said.

Charlie Brown, president of Inplant Offices, said that the underground space works really well with their equipment and processing. The workers don’t have to battle the elements when they are loading and unloading the trucks and laminating the panels that they make for offices is done more easily in the controlled temperature. The only complaint for secretary of the company, Krystal Johnson, is that sometimes the humidity in the room warps the paperwork.

Inplant Offices’ space is 52,000 square feet with 22 feet tall ceilings. The air circulates through the space to the outside world 5 times an hour. Brown said that the owner of the office park and quarry, Mark Bussen, did above and beyond what was necessary for safety. Bussen provided the tunnel with a sophisticated smoke alarm and sprinkler system.

The tunnel still has room for more offices and warehouses. Shermann believes that underground office spaces might see a big boom with the growth of the green movement. While this particular underground office park does not have much to attract the general public, it is interesting to note that this unique opportunity is available to businesses in our area. The future may bring opportunities for further underground development in the rich landscape of this area.