Three Lawrence businessmen lead an investment group that has purchased the former Davol Inc. building at 700 E. 22nd St.

The Lawrence investors – Rand Allen, of Allen Press; Smitty Belcher, owner of Huxtable & Associates Inc.; and contractor Joel Fritzel – bought the building last week by forming a limited liability company that includes an investor from Chicago whom they declined to name.

The 215,000-square-foot building will provide space for the businesses of all three Lawrence investors and more, Belcher said.

Cranston, R.I.-based Davol will continue to lease a small portion of the building – held in reserve in case the maker of surgical equipment needs increased manufacturing capacity – while other space likely will be freed up for lease to at least one other business in town.

“It makes a lot of sense for us and it makes a lot of sense for the community,” Belcher said.

Belcher declined to disclose the purchase price, but did acknowledge that it was above the market value of $1.87 million set by Douglas County.

The investment group bought the building from Big Industrial LLC, a Prairie Village company that had acquired the property in September 2003. The building formerly housed operations of Davol, which had 130 employees in Lawrence before closing in May 2003.

All of Huxtable’s 140 employees will be moving into the building, Belcher said. The mechanical, electrical and design-build contractor is dropping plans to expand its current location at 815 E. 12th St., which instead will be sold once the move is complete.

A group of investors has purchased the former Davol Inc. building, 700 E. 22nd St. The group includes three Lawrence businessmen - Rand Allen, of Allen Press; Smitty Belcher, owner of Huxtable & Associates Inc.; and contractor Joel Fritzel - and an investor from Chicago who has declined to be named. Group members plan to use portions of the building for their businesses and likely will lease some space in the building.

Huxtable is part of P1 Group, Belcher’s collection of contractor companies that includes four other operations in Lenexa and Topeka. Huxtable is adding office workers, project managers, estimators and union craftspeople as its workload grows.

“All of us are happy to keep our businesses here in Lawrence,” Belcher said.

Fritzel, owner of Joel Fritzel Construction, 3320 Clinton Parkway, also is counting on the purchase of industrial building to help him expand.

“We’ll be moving our storage and shop area there,” Fritzel said. “We’ll be doing cabinets and specialty work that involves wood, basically.”

Allen couldn’t be reached for comment Wednesday.

No timetable has been set for the moves, as the investors mull what building modifications will need to be made to make it suitable for the incoming employees and operations.

“We own the building now and we’re making plans to move as rapidly as we can,” Fritzel said.