Rennels saw opportunity in his home “tertiary” market – the Charleston-Mattoon area, recently recognized as the number one micropolitan area in Illinois and 25th in the nation by Site Selection Magazine. This smaller, often overlooked community is gaining momentum with new investment, jobs, and projects like the Emerald Acres sports complex.

“You are seeing substantial growth throughout,” said Coles Together CEO Ronda Sauget. 

Rennels grew up here, left for his mechanical engineering degree at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and came back to help launch Davis-Houk’s satellite branch. “We started in 2005 and really cut our teeth on design-build work – that was where our heart was at,” Rennels explained. The company has since grown into a full-service mechanical contractor with in-house fabrication – and brought a level of capability and wage scale rarely seen in Coles County when they entered the market in 2022.

Rural King is receiving support from Economic Development for a Growing Economy (EDGE) Tax Credits and grants from the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity and Department of Transportation. As Illinois Deputy Governor Andy Manar emphasized at the groundbreaking, this state backing is critical to keeping businesses investing locally.

“I’m proud to say a lot has changed over the past seven years through competitive incentive programs like the EDGE program, workforce investment, and infrastructure development,” Manar said, with Amy Shafer, vice president of human resources, adding: “Our new campus will truly represent the culture of Rural King, helping us support locations companywide.”

Rural King is headquartered in Mattoon, Illinois. The current headquarters will be converted to increase distribution capacity, and the flagship store will relocate from the Cross County Mall, with plans for a replacement anchor tenant in the Rural King Realty-owned property.

This new Store Support Center will serve as a critical hub as the company expands its footprint over the next few years. Rural King already operates more than 160 stores nationwide, with plans to continue growing annually.

When asked about growth plans by the ACHR NEWS, Rural King said it had no immediate plans to expand offerings in the HVAC segment, where their inventory is limited to filters and key tools like snips.

Design-Build, Prefab, and the Mechanical Playbook

For HVAC pros, the story is in the details. Davis-Houk’s Urbana fab shop will crank out plumbing, piping, and sheet metal for all three buildings, using BIM and Revit models to coordinate every step – down to prefabbed hangers. “It’s not just about cost, it’s about schedule,” Rennels said. “On a job that’s this fast-moving, you don’t want the left hand guessing what the right is doing on install day.”

The campus mechanical systems are designed for flexibility and efficiency: variable air volume (VAV) with hot water reheat, full direct digital controls (DDC), load balancing, and demand-control ventilation (DCV). “We’re making sure we only condition outside air when it’s needed – big for both utility incentives and long-term operating costs. And with the event center, occupancy can swing from a few dozen to more than a thousand, so controls flexibility is critical.”

Rural King’s leadership is aiming for more than just new headquarters, they want to continue supporting economic growth in the region, inspired by places such as Bentonville, AR. While on a smaller scale, the company has been steadily investing in Mattoon for years and is increasing the pace.

Rennels’ early risk to bring union mechanical expertise and fabrication capabilities to Coles County is now paying dividends – not just for his company, but for the broader community and the tradespeople who call this area home. In a market often overlooked, this campus (and its locally designed and built mechanical infrastructure) will be a beacon of what can happen when businesses invest in their roots.