Main Street building eyed for prime showroom space
Larry Thomas -- Furniture Today, March 20, 2005
High Point — A prominent downtown office building that now is largely vacant is being marketed to potential developers as prime furniture showroom space.
The eight-story building at 101 North Main St., which once housed the headquarters of Culp Inc. and GE Capital's factoring operations, is a half block north of the Radisson Hotel and would be an excellent location for showrooms, said Tim McGee, vice president of leasing at Showplace, who is overseeing the sales effort.
"We feel this has some real potential as a showroom building," said McGee. "You can't get much closer to the center of the action (at market)."
High Point businessman Phil Phillips, the majority owner of Showplace, owns the Main Street building. For years, the structure was known locally as the First Factors Building, named after the factoring company Phillips founded and later sold to GE Capital.
McGee said each floor has about 14,000 square feet of space. Major tenants Culp, GE Capital and RBC Centura have moved out in the past few months.
If the building can be converted into a showroom property, McGee said most remaining office tenants would be relocated to the eighth floor. Noble's, one of High Point's premiere restaurants, would remain on the first floor, said McGee.
He said long-range plans call for construction of a covered walkway over Wrenn Street linking the fifth floor of Showplace and the sixth floor of the Main Street structure.
