TUCSON, ARIZONA, February 14, 2023 -- Saia Motor Freight purchased 19.87 acres at 7157 South Swan Road, at Swan and Los Reales Road for construction of a truck terminal for $2.6 million ($3 PSF).
The transaction occurred on January 11, 2023.
Saia is an American less than truckload (LTL) trucking company, meaning it will transport less than a full load, that originated in Houma, Louisiana in 1924. With original operations occurring in Louisiana and Texas for the first fifty years, expansion came after 1980 when coverage began reaching into more states within the South. Further expansion happened through mergers with other companies, which allowed Saia to provide service for thirty-six states.
In 1987, the Saia family sold Saia to Preston Trucking.
The Yellow Corporation purchased Preston Trucking, along with subsidiaries Saia & Smalley, in 1993. In 1995 Saia merged with Smalley Transportation resulting in the establishment of terminals in North Carolina, South Carolina and western Texas.
In 2002 Saia and Delanco, New Jersey-based Jevic Transportation, another Yellow Corporation subsidiary, spun off to form an independent publicly traded company called SCS Transportation (SCS). Clark Brothers Transport, Inc. was acquired in 2004 incorporating its nine state, sixteen terminal operations into Saia.
In 2006, SCS sold Jevic to a Sun Capital Partners affiliate for $40 million. The sale came after years of low profitability at Jevic and allowed SCS to focus on its more successful Saia unit. Along with the sale, SCS announced plans to rebrand the parent company to Saia and move its corporate headquarters from Kansas City, Missouri to Saia's headquarters in Duluth, Georgia. Saia president Rick O'Dell would become president, CEO, and a board member of the parent company with former chairman and CEO, Bert Trucksess, transitioning to non-executive chairman. Jevic, originally founded in 1981 by Harry Mulschlegel, would shut down in 2008 after being unable to improve its fortunes as an independent company.
Saia began trading on the NASDAQ with the symbol SAIA and ranks within the top ten of LTL carriers in the United States, with revenues of over $1.8 billion in 2020.
Saia currently has 172 terminals and serves the 48 states in the contiguous United States directly. It also serves Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, Mexico, and Canada via a network of partners.
Mike Hennessy of Burris Hennessy & Co, in Tucson represented the seller, a family trust out of Florida.
For more information, Hennessy can be reached at 520.882.4343.
To learn more, see RED Comp #10425.