The Lawrence construction industry may be getting a little more competitive. There’s news of a Eudora-based company expanding through a merger and opening up a new headquarters to accommodate an expected growth in employees.

Leaders with Benchmark construction have confirmed they’ve completed a deal to purchase Ron Fowles Construction Management Services, a Manhattan-based firm that has done significant construction work for Kansas State University and other large projects in the Manhattan area.

In addition, Benchmark also has struck a deal for a new corporate headquarters building in Eudora. The company has purchased the former Carquest Auto Parts building at 10th and Ash streets in Eudora. Tim Bruce, the CEO of the combined companies, said the company currently has its six executive and administrative positions in a small Eudora office along Kansas Highway 10. He said the company needed a larger office space that would allow the company to accommodate the 10 to 15 new executive and administrative employees that he anticipates over the next three to five years.

“It gives us the room we’re going to need for project managers, operations managers, a safety office and other positions,” Bruce said. “It also gives us some good warehouse space.”

Bruce said he sees good growth potential in the area’s construction market, and he thinks Benchmark is well positioned to compete with large Lawrence-based construction firms such as B.A. Green Construction, First Construction and others for commercial building projects such as office buildings, mixed-used buildings, and educational buildings both for school districts and universities.

Bruce said the new company will operate under two names. Benchmark and RF Construction, and will continue to maintain an office in Manhattan. Bruce, however, said the Eudora office will serve as the corporate headquarters for the new entity.

Bruce said Eudora made good sense for the company in part because the community of about 6,000 people is well positioned for companies that are looking to do business in the Lawrence, Topeka and Kansas City areas. The town is located right along Kansas Highway 10, and a relatively new interchange on the Kansas Turnpike is just a few minutes north of Eudora.

“It makes for really good transportation access,” said Bruce, who also is a member of the Eudora City Council and a leader in the city’s chamber of commerce.

It will be interesting to watch in the coming years whether Eudora is able to take advantage of the new Kansas Turnpike interchange, which is probably five minutes or so from its downtown. The city has an industrial park on the eastern edge of the city, right along K-10, and the community has significant amounts of undeveloped frontage property along the highway. But it also is just down the road from the new Lawrence Venture Park, which is expected to be the property that area economic development leaders focus on filling for awhile.

• That’s it for today on Town Talk. I’m going to be participating as a “victim” in today’s emergency management exercise that is taking place in the Lied Center parking lot and also at Lawrence Memorial Hospital. Rumor has it that a terrible hazardous materials accident may befall me. I’m not sure if that will happen at the exercise or as I finish making breakfast here. Stay on the lookout this weekend for a Lawhorn’s Lawrence for a behind-the-scenes look at what happens when a fake disaster hits the city.