Gold Crest Distributing announced Wednesday the expansion of its business into the 75,000 square foot Mosler Building in Mexico Industrial Park, creating up to 50 new jobs and $1 million in capital investment.

"The expansion of Gold Crest and the creation of these new jobs is magnificent news for Mexico," said Mayor Richard Buffington. "This expansion will have a significant, positive impact on the community of Mexico and we are pleased to be a part of it."

In its seven years of existence, Gold Crest has swiftly grown into the largest distributor of "Backyard Nature Products" in America. Gold Crest stocks more than 5,000 Backyard Nature Product items shipped throughout the U.S. and Canada. They currently have 15 full-time and 15 part-time employees.

Due to rapid business growth, Gold Crest Distributing had outgrown its 17,000 square foot facility at U.S. 54 East and needed to make a move to quickly accommodate increasing sales volume, said Mel Toellner, President of Gold Crest in a press release.

"We were bursting at the seams at our facility on U.S. 54 and began evaluating our options," said Toellner.

This expansion was aided by a $700,000 Industrial Development Revenue Bond issued by the city on June 1. The bond was issued under Chapter 100 of Missouri State Statutes, which allows cities to purchase or construct industrial projects with bond proceeds and lease or sell the project to a company. Under the arrangement, the city purchased the Mosler building (1600 Bassford Drive) and leased it to Gold Crest. Gold Crest will have an option to purchase facility at the end of the lease.

"The city stepped up with a solution that met the needs of our business while keeping us in Mexico. I was impressed with how quickly Martinsburg Bank and Trust and the city were able to put the financial package together in such a short time. This was truly a win-win situation for the community," said Toellner.

Along with the new distribution center, Gold Crest also opened "Songbird Station," a retail store that will sell many of the Backyard Nature Products. Toellner said that the new store will be similar to the Songbird Station located in Columbia. Retail hours at the Mexico store will be 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Friday.

In recent years, Gold Crest has expanded from solely being a supplier and distributor.

"In order to offer full-time employment to the constantly growing number of people we needed for customer service on Monday and Wednesday, we needed to find other things to do on Thursday and Friday," said Toellner.

In early 2001, Gold Crest acquired a small company which marketed a "Feather Feeder" product. Gold Crest changed the name to "All-Weather Feeder" and began assembling the products at its facility.

In 2002, Gold Crest expanded locally manufactured products with a "Songbird Essentials" line of products.

Gold Crest also fills orders for 34 Web sites and catalogs. Several of Gold Crest's ads appear in national publications.