Lamar Advertising Maximizing Regional Exposure With Jetplex Facility

Lamar Advertising of North Alabama has consolidated its regional operations into a new 15,000 square-foot facility in the Jetplex Industrial Park.

The $4 million facility will house the 24 employees who work in Decatur and Huntsville’s Five Points locations. The location creates a centralized hub for Lamar’s seven-county service areas of Huntsville and Madison, Decatur, Cullman, Muscle Shoals, Scottsboro, Fort Payne, and Arab; as well as customers in Pulaski and Fayetteville, Tenn.

It was a typical 90-degree sunny summer day in Alabama, albeit May rather than August, as Lamar management joined civic and business officials in cutting the grand-opening ribbon.

“Lamar advertising serves a 75-mile radius in North Alabama, very similar to the airport’s passenger traffic area,” said Huntsville-Madison County Airport Authority CEO Rick Tucker. The Airport Authority oversees the industrial park, Huntsville International Airport and the International Intermodal Center. “We are proud of the $4 million investment you are making in our community, and Lamar advertising is now our partner in servicing the entire North Alabama region.”

Lamar Advertising, a subsidiary of one of the oldest national advertising companies in the U.S., has been in business since 1902 and has had operations here since 1998.

According to Jeff Handley, Lamar vice president and group manager in Huntsville, the new facility has been a long time coming.

“We started building last year in March and three weeks into the project, we were shut down due to the COVID pandemic,” said Handley. “We got started back up again in August, and we are finally able to move in.

“This new building is not just large enough for us right now, but it is large enough for us to grow in the number of employees.”

He said one of the major reasons for Lamar’s growth in North Alabama is due to leadership and the pro-business environment, as well as the vision for the economic impact it would have on the entire region.

“Everyone in North Alabama knows this is the place to be and we make no apology for being a part of it,” said Handley. “Drive anywhere in Madison County and see the road construction and the buildings going up – buildings like ours. 

“Even though we are a national company, our employees work here in this community, play here, worship here, and our kids go to school here.  We live by the golden rule – to operate with honesty and integrity in every aspect of our business, and we are open with employees and transparent with customers.”

Lamar has been supportive of communities negatively affected by tornadoes, and just recently, the company recognized local schoolteachers with digital billboards around town, touting what they do for children. 

“If you are driving Interstate 65 and see our guys climbing one of our billboards, know that Lamar is committed to safety when it comes to our employees and we always try to improve the communities we serve, leaving every place where we are allowed to operate, better than we found it,” Handley said.

Madison County Commission Chairman Dale Strong said with the recent announcement of 25,000 jobs here in North Alabama, the economy is booming.

“It is an honor for me to be here,” he said. “I have served on the Madison County Commission since 1996, and I have been chairman since 2012. In that time, I have been a champion of economic growth and expansion in the Huntsville and Madison region and beyond, and we are glad Lamar chose the Jetplex. 

“Companies like Lamar Advertising are the bread and butter of our country, and what you are doing is bringing people together. I believe our finest days are still ahead.”