Harden rebuilds High Point showroom after fire
Space repaired, updated, improved
Heath Combs -- Furniture Today, March 21, 2007
HIGH POINT — Six weeks after it sustained extensive damage from a Jan. 22 fire, restoration of Harden Furniture’s 200 N. Hamilton St. showroom is complete.
The case goods and upholstery manufacturer will show off a new showroom, which is also the setting for the launch of the company’s new environmental initiative, the Living Canopy Project.
The electrical fire started in a storage area in the showroom, just hours before the company was to participate in the High Point Design Center’s Third Annual Winter Event.
Smoke damaged most of the furniture and accessories in the showroom, as well as the carpet, walls, floors, phone systems, computers and other infrastructure. Other exhibitors in 200 N. Hamilton sustained damage, but none as extensive as Harden. No one was injured in the blaze.
Beth Penley, the company’s vice president of design, along with Harden showroom managers Martha Lee Marvin and Jamie Glenn, have worked days, nights and weekends since the fire to ensure that the showroom will be ready for market.
In less than seven weeks, the space has been gutted down to the cinderblock walls and all of the flooring, drywall and ceilings have been replaced. Extensive upgrades have been made to the electric and telecommunications systems.
As it made the repairs, Harden also made several improvements to the showroom, such as higher ceilings and walls in several galleries, a reorganized layout that improves traffic flow and efficiency, new climate control systems, and new flooring and sisal carpet.
“The Harden showroom is spiffy, fresh and ready for the convoy of trucks rolling in this week,” says Penley. “This just goes to show what determination and a common goal can do.”
Harden Furniture was the first tenant of the 200 N. Hamilton building more than 30 years ago.
“Beth and everyone associated with the Harden staff have been amazing. This has been a daunting task, especially during the initial emotionally numbing weeks,” said Lisa Shankle, leasing and property manager for Hamilton Properties, which manages 200 N. Hamilton. “Harden has not only finished in plenty of time for market, they have done an amazing job with the restoration. The showroom just looks beautiful.”
The “Living Canopy Project” initiative will launch at the Harden showroom on Tuesday at 5:00 p.m. A specially commissioned metal sculpture created by acclaimed Greensboro artist Brian Hibbard will be prominently displayed in the showroom during market and then raffled off on Friday, March 30.
Tickets will be available in the showroom throughout market for $10 each.
Proceeds from the “Living Canopy Project” will fund the restoration of a derelict property in Upstate New York, with the help of students from Camden High School, Camden, N.Y., and the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry in Syracuse.
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