What Erlen does

Erlen Group is a privately held, family-owned holding company headquartered in Springfield, Missouri, operating a vertically integrated portfolio across three pillars: real estate, materials, and logistics. The real estate pillar comprises Springfield Underground (a 50+ year-old underground industrial facility), the 150,000 square-foot Frisco Building office property at 3253 E. Chestnut Expressway, and Lime Light Development, which builds industrial parks for manufacturing, warehousing, 3PL, and e-commerce tenants in southwest Missouri. The materials pillar, branded Radix Quarries, operates three limestone quarries — Radix Westside (Springfield, MO), Radix Joplin (Joplin, MO), and Radix Carroll County (Berryville, AR) — plus Radix Mobile, a portable crushing service, producing crushed limestone for construction and agricultural markets across Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Arkansas.

The logistics pillar consists of Cold Zone, which operates private and public refrigerated and frozen warehousing inside a 200,000 square-foot underground facility, and Umlaut Transloading, which provides rail-to-truck and truck-to-rail transloading services on over 3 miles of surface and underground rail infrastructure in Springfield, MO. The group generates revenue through industrial and office real estate leasing (described as recurring/subscription-like), transaction-based sales of aggregates to construction and agricultural buyers, and fee-based logistics and warehousing services. Go-to-market is relationship-driven and regional, supplemented by industry association memberships (NSSGA, MLPA, IARW/GCCA) and a corporate website at erlengroup.com. Pricing is not publicly disclosed; customer contact is via a centralized phone line and recruiting email.

The corporate lineage traces to the 1891 founding of Springfield Furniture Company (later General Warehouse Corporation / Springfield Underground) and the 1946 opening of the Jos J. Griesemer Quarry (later Griesemer Stone Company); the family-of-companies was rebranded as Erlen Group in 2018, named after the founders' ancestral German village. In 2025, the company launched Umlaut Transloading, opened the Carroll County Stone quarry in Berryville, Arkansas, and consolidated its quarry operations under the Radix Quarries brand. The company remains privately owned by the founding family, with no external institutional investors or parent company disclosed.

Name

Erlen

Legal name

Erlen Group

Website

https://erlengroup.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1946

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

51–100 employees

Short description

Erlen Group is a family-owned Springfield, Missouri holding company operating underground industrial real estate (Springfield Underground, Frisco Building, Lime Light Development), three limestone quarries under the Radix Quarries brand, and logistics services including Cold Zone cold storage and Umlaut rail transloading, serving industrial, construction, and agricultural customers across the tri-state region.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Industrial Real Estate & Materials

NAICS

Crushed and Broken Limestone Mining and Quarrying (212312), General Warehousing and Storage (493110)

SIC

Mining & Quarrying Of Nonmetallic Minerals (No Fuels) (1400), Public Warehousing & Storage (4220)

akta.pro primary industry

Ultra-Low Temperature (ULT) & Specialty Freezer Warehousing (-20°C to -80°C) (AFAOAFAH)

akta.pro secondary industry

Process Plant & Materials Handling EPC (Crushing, Conveying, Stockpiles, Loadout) (IMAKAOAE)

Keywords

• Industrial real estate
• Underground warehousing
• Crushed limestone aggregates
• Cold storage logistics
• Rail transloading services

Headquarters

HQ city

Springfield

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices3 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Operations, Supply Chain, Personnel, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Real Estate Investment and Leasing: The company develops and leases industrial and office space, including underground warehouse facilities, surface industrial parks, and office buildings.
2. Aggregates and Construction Materials: Production and sale of quality crushed limestone products for the construction and agricultural industries through three operating quarries.
3. Logistics and Warehousing Services: Public warehousing, rail transloading, and third-party logistics services including cold and frozen storage solutions.

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels3 records

Core offering

Erlen Group is a family-owned industrial holding company that develops and leases industrial and office real estate (including underground warehousing and the Frisco Building), produces and sells crushed limestone aggregates through three quarries, and operates logistics services (cold/frozen storage and rail transloading) for industrial, construction, agricultural, and 3PL customers in the southwest Missouri region.

Product overview

Erlen Group is a family-owned holding company comprising three business pillars: Real Estate (Springfield Underground, The Frisco Building, Lime Light Development), Materials (Radix Quarries - including Radix Joplin, Radix Westside, Radix Carroll County, and Radix Mobile), and Logistics (Cold Zone, Umlaut Transloading). The company operates underground and surface industrial facilities, limestone quarries, cold storage warehouses, and rail transloading services primarily in the Springfield, Missouri region.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Radix Westside: Limestone quarry operation in Springfield, Missouri serving local and surrounding communities.
• Radix Joplin
• Radix Carroll County
• Radix Mobile

Products and services

• Springfield Underground Underground industrial facility located in Springfield, Missouri, offering unique warehousing and industrial space for manufacturing, warehousing, third-party logistics, and e-commerce operations; over 50 years of operating history.
• Radix Quarries Three operating limestone quarries (Radix Joplin in Joplin, MO; Radix Westside in Springfield, MO; Radix Carroll County in Berryville, AR) plus Radix Mobile portable crushing services, producing crushed limestone for construction and agricultural markets.
• Cold Zone Refrigerated and frozen public warehouse storage provider operating in a 200,000 square-foot underground facility in Springfield, MO, serving private and public cold-chain customers.
• Lime Light Development

Named customers2 records

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Partnerships

Ten partnerships are on record, tiered minor.

• Ronald McDonald House CharitiesminorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2025Springfield Underground provides warm, dry shelter for the Ronald McDonald House Tooth Truck, which has provided free dental care to over 24,000 children in the Ozarks.
• Regional Fire Departments and U.S. ArmyminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerSpringfield Underground partnered with regional fire departments and the Army to provide a warm and dry space to conduct HAZMAT training.
• Springfield Fire DepartmentminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerWestside Stone donated a drone to the Springfield Fire Department to enhance their fire and rescue operations capabilities.
• Irish Invitational Cross Country MeetminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerSpringfield Underground serves as the annual site for the Irish Invitational Junior High and High School Cross Country meet.
• National Stone, Sand & Gravel Association (NSSGA)minorOthersIndustry trade association membership for aggregate producers.
• Missouri Limestone Producers Association (MLPA)minorOthersState industry association for limestone producers in Missouri.
• Springfield Area Chamber of CommerceminorOthersLocal chamber membership for business networking and community engagement.
• Springfield Contractors AssociationminorOthersTrade association membership for construction contractors.
• Tri-State Contractors AssociationminorOthersRegional contractors association serving Missouri, Kansas, and Oklahoma.
• International Association of Refrigerated Warehouses (IARW/GCCA)minorOthersGlobal trade association for the temperature-controlled warehousing and logistics industry.

Scale indicators6 records

Recent moves10 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Americold Realty Trust: Largest US publicly traded cold storage REIT operating temperature-controlled warehouses nationwide. Directly comparable to Erlen's Cold Zone underground cold storage business, though Americold operates at vastly larger national scale while Cold Zone is a single regional underground facility.
• Lineage Logistics: Second-largest global cold storage operator (private, backed by Bay Grove Capital). Directly comparable to Erlen's Cold Zone; both offer public and private refrigerated/frozen warehousing to food manufacturers, retailers, and 3PLs, with Lineage operating globally versus Erlen's regional underground focus.
• United States Cold Storage: Privately held US cold storage operator with multiple regional facilities. Comparable to Cold Zone in offering temperature-controlled public warehousing to food industry customers; smaller and more regionally focused than Americold or Lineage, closer in profile to Erlen's underground-only model.
• Rogers Group Inc. Privately held US aggregates producer operating crushed stone and asphalt plants across multiple states. Closest scale and ownership-structure comparable to Radix Quarries — both are private, family-influenced aggregates producers serving regional construction and agricultural markets.
• EastGroup Properties: Industrial REIT focused on multi-tenant business distribution and light industrial properties, with concentration in Sunbelt markets. Comparable to Erlen's Lime Light Development and Springfield Underground industrial real estate leasing business, though EastGroup operates above-ground distribution facilities rather than underground industrial space.
• Terreno Realty Corporation: Industrial REIT acquiring and developing industrial real estate in six major US coastal markets. Comparable to Springfield Underground / Lime Light Development industrial leasing operations, though geographically diversified versus Erlen's single-market Springfield, MO focus.
• Atlas Cold Storage & Logistics: Regional cold storage operator serving the Midwest and Eastern US with public and private refrigerated warehousing. Comparable to Cold Zone in offering temperature-controlled warehousing to food manufacturers and 3PLs at sub-national scale.

Broad incumbents

• Vulcan Materials Company: Largest US producer of construction aggregates including crushed limestone, sand, and gravel. Directly comparable to Erlen's Radix Quarries division in product mix (crushed limestone for construction and agriculture) but operates at vastly larger national scale across hundreds of quarries.
• Martin Marietta Materials: Major US supplier of aggregates including crushed stone, sand, and gravel, with operations across multiple states. Directly comparable product overlap with Radix Quarries' crushed limestone operations, though Martin Marietta is publicly traded and operates at significantly greater scale.
• Summit Materials: Vertically integrated construction materials company producing aggregates, cement, and ready-mix concrete across the US. Comparable to Radix Quarries in aggregates production for construction markets, with broader product portfolio and public-company scale.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/erlen-group

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Subsidiaries6 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Erlen