Lee Inds. Buys Factory
Gary Evans -- Furniture Today, July 13, 2011
CONOVER, N.C. - Upperend upholstery maker Lee Inds. plans to spend an estimated $2.5 million to renovate a former Conover Chair plant here to house manufacturing operations. Lee also will move its headquarters and administrative offices, now in nearby Newton, N.C., to the plant.
"We anticipate if we get that plant up to capacity, we could have 240 people." Norman Coley, Lee Inds.
Lee President Norman Coley made the announcement last week along with other company and government officials.
"We're excited about the growth potential it has for us," he said.
Coley didn't divulge the cost of the building, which had fallen into foreclosure, other than to say, "We got it at a good price." It had been operated by other parties after Conover Chair went out of business.
He said the new facility should be in production by the end of the year.
Lee will use a little over 100,000 square feet for manufacturing and another 30,000 square feet for offices, Coley said. He said the facility will be used to manufacture three families of products which are currently being determined. Operations will be self-contained from cutting through shipping.
Coley said the company has been in its current headquarters and production space in Newton since the 1970s, and is overcrowded "with people on top of one another." When it moves the offices to Conover, that area will be replaced with manufacturing space with a renovation that will "increase the quality of the workspace," he said.
New offices will allow Lee to add multipurpose workrooms, expand its merchandising and marketing areas, and consolidate with other departments including product development.
Lee was one of the first upholstery companies to become environmentally friendly with green product components and manufacturing efficiencies. With the newly acquired facility, Coley said the company will add a high-efficiency roof with skylights, new LED lighting and other energy-saving materials and equipment.
The company will apply to be energy certified and plans to hire at least 75 people over the next three years in order to receive incentives of $89,999 from the city of Conover and $50,000 from Catawba County.
"We anticipate if we get that plant up to capacity, we could have 240 people," Coley said.
He said the acquisition is important for Lee Inds., and that it's also gratifying to take a "dilapidated eyesore" in the community and "give it a new face."
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