MNS1 Express finds home in Plainfield

Mike Narkys has moved his 118-truck logistics business to Plainfield, the latest milestone for the Lithuanian immigrant who started with one truck 12 years ago

The new MNS1 Express Inc. location is the latest addition to Plainfield Business Park, a development created through a partnership between the village and Northern Builders.

For Narkys, the 26,100-square-foot building and additions space for truck parking provided an opportunity to consolidate operations for a business with a track record of growth that was twice recognized by Inc. Magazine.

The secret of his success?

“I don’t know,” Narkys said, “just hard work and a little bit of luck.”

Narkys, who has Americanized his first name, Mindaugas, since coming to America as a teenager with his family 20 years ago, started small.

It was a one-truck operation tied to a larger firm. He added a second truck in 2013 and a third in 2014.

“When I had three trucks, I went on my own,” said the 35-year-old businessman.

The growth of the company since then has been recognized by Inc. Magazine in 2019 with an Inc. 500 award and in 2021 with an Inc. 5000 Regionals Award.

MNS1 Express provides logistics services for companies that need to transport goods. Its largest customer is Menards, the home improvement retailer.

The company, which has about 100 employees, moved to Plainfield Business Park from Bolingbrook, where its parking, maintenance and office operations were scattered at three locations leased by Narkys. He owns the property that is the new home for MNS1 Express.

It’s not the first time Narkys has called Plainfield home.

“My first house I bought was in Plainfield,” said Narkys, who now lives in Downers Grove.

Plainfield village officials and representatives from Northern Builders joined Narkys and MNS1 Express employees for a ribbon-cutting ceremony Thursday at his new building.

It’s the latest ribbon-cutting for the business park that in 2022, became home to the Pace Heritage Division, the center for the suburban bus service’s Will County operations.

Since then, a new building for the Plainfield Emergency Agency has been completed, and Perlow Steel has moved its steel distribution business from Broadview into Plainfield Business Park.

The business park is along Van Dyke Road, a corridor lined with some of Plainfield’s newest industrial developments. It’s just south of the Pace Park-N-Ride facility on Depot Drive.

Plainfield Business Park is almost completed.

“We have one remaining site capable of handling a 75,000-square-foot building,” said Matthew Grusecki, president of Northern Builders Inc.

The Schiller Park-based business has its own entrepreneurial story to tell

Grusecki is a member of the third generation of the family that owns the development and construction firm. The company, a familiar name in industrial development in Will County and the Chicago region, was started in 1927.

The Plainfield Business Park has been developed on land that was owned by the village, which partnered with Northern Developers to see it developed.

“The village has been a tremendous partner with us,” Grusecki said. “The Village of Plainfield is exceptional to work with.”

Mayor John Argoudelis joined the ribbon-cutting ceremony last week.

“It truly is a golden age in Plainfield with so many exciting things coming here,” Argoudelis said as he stood with Narkys, noting his business success and immigrant experience. “We couldn’t be more proud to have you here in Plainfield.”