By KERRY SMITH, EDITOR, ST. LOUIS CONSTRUCTION NEWS AND REVIEW MAGAZINE
A fast-growing pet care manufacturing firm with roots in western St. Charles County plans to break ground this spring on a 200,000-square-foot, $25.7 million global headquarters in O’Fallon.
Wentzville-based Cosmos Corporation employs more than 100 people and anticipates creating at least 60 more full-time jobs over the next several years, according to Amanda Roessler, office administrator for TropiClean Pet Products, one of Cosmos’ well-known pet care brands.
Founded by the Kassebaum family as a beauty products distributor in 1980, Cosmos entered the pet grooming industry five years later. Its roots have been in Missouri for 30 years. The company didn’t have the space to grow at its existing site in Wentzville, so it searched for another viable site within the same labor market. Cosmos found the ideal spot in O’Fallon, according to City of O’Fallon Economic Development Director Patrick McKeehan. The location is 521 Pearl Drive on the northeast side of O’Fallon near the MEMC Electronic Materials Inc. plant off Missouri Highway 79.
“This is a project we’ve been working on for almost one year,” said McKeehan, adding that the Missouri Dept. of Economic Development and the City of O’Fallon are supporting the company’s growth via the state’s Missouri Works Program and local Chapter 100 bonding authority.
“Cosmos’ opportunities in overseas markets are growing quickly,” McKeehan said. “This industry leader needed to grow its workforce and production capacity to keep pace with demand. Cosmos’ brands and its more than 150 products are available at nearly all major retailers. They are also supplying products to more than 65 countries.”
The family-owned business operates a separate foundation, Gifts of Love, with the mission of giving back and improving lives in the process. Gifts of Love’s headquarters will also operate in the future building that Cosmos will call its corporate home. Cosmos CEO Landon Hobson said a significant portion of TropiClean’s revenue goes directly to Gifts of Love to support the poor, widowed, orphaned and needy.
“We are very excited to continue our growth here in Missouri at our new O’Fallon headquarters,” said Hobson. “We appreciate the excellent business climate and workforce that the state and St. Louis area has to offer and look forward to bringing even more jobs to the region.”
Cosmos expects to move into its future O’Fallon headquarters in early 2020.