Furniture Brands puts Thomasville offices on selling block

Thomas Russell -- Furniture Today, March 4, 2013

THOMASVILLE, N.C. - Furniture Brands International has put the administrative offices of its case goods and upholstery subsidiary Thomasville Furniture Inds. here up for sale and plans to move its employees to another office in nearby High Point.
     The company has listed its 225,000-square-foot building at 401 E. Main St. in Thomasville for $2.25 million with Cassidy Turley Commercial Real Estate Services.
     The five-story building was built in 1958 and houses offices for Thomasville and sister company Drexel Heritage. It also once housed showrooms for both companies before they moved to the International Home Furnishings Center in High Point in 2011.
     There are currently under 100 people in the building up for sale, said Lisa Hanly, vice president of corporate communications and public relations for parent company Furniture Brands International.
     Hanly said the company decided to put the building on the market because it is out of date and doesn't serve the company's needs.
     The company doesn't have a timetable for the move, she said. But over time, the employees will be moved to a building at 1925 Eastchester Drive in High Point that houses administrative offices and showrooms for sister companies Maitland-Smith and Henredon.
     "It is just putting people into a building where they can collaborate with and be with other coworkers," Hanly said, noting that some corporate functions continue to be handled at the company's headquarters in St. Louis.
     The company will maintain a presence in Thomasville with its 325,000-square-foot case goods plant and more than 700,000- square feet of distribution facilities in the city. Furniture Brands did not reveal how many workers are in those facilities.