Velocity Truck Centers’ purchase last year of Nashville-based heavy-duty truck sales-and-service company Neely Coble Co. is proving to mean some heavy-duty growth for the former Neely Coble location in Bowling Green.

Dirt is already moving on the site at 820 Three Springs Road, where Velocity is building a $2.5 million, 24,000-square-foot facility for servicing Freightliner trucks.

Home to a Wright Implement store until Neely Coble established a Freightliner truck dealership there in 2018, the Three Springs Road site will have 20 service bays in the new building to complement the service and parts sales at the existing building.

“As we grow, we need more service capacity,” said Neely Coble IV, now Velocity’s general manager for the Mid-South region. “We plan to renovate the existing building as well and add some parts storage.”

Coble said Velocity bought a four-acre lot adjoining the former Neely Coble dealership and will build the new service building there.

“The existing building has a service shop in the back and can serve 10 to 12 trucks at a time,” Coble said. “Adding the 20 service bays should make us the largest heavy truck service company in Bowling Green.”

California-based Velocity will need the capacity now that it is established in the Southeast with the purchase of Neely Coble.

“We are very excited to extend Velocity Truck Centers’ reach to the rapidly growing markets in the Southeast,” Velocity Co-President Brad Fauvre said in a news release. “We will now be able to take care of our customers operating in a broad area of the U.S. from East to West.”

The acquisition of Neely Coble continues a growth strategy for Velocity, which is one of the largest Freightliner and Western Star dealership groups in the country with more than 30 locations and some 1,800 employees.

Velocity’s existing operations generate more than $2 billion in worldwide annual revenue from commercial vehicle sales, service, parts, collision and fabrication centers and equipment financing.

Buying Neely Coble, a well-established brand that was started in 1951, makes sense for Velocity as it tries to extend its reach throughout the country.

The purchase adds Freightliner dealerships in Nashville and Huntsville, Ala., along with the Bowling Green service facility.

“The Interstate 65 corridor is vital to Velocity,” said Neely Coble IV, who was hired in a management role by Velocity along with his brother Edward Coble.

Coble IV said the expansion of the Bowling Green location will eventually mean a boost in employment locally as Velocity looks to hire a dozen or more diesel-engine technicians.