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No. 239 www.hpe.com High Point, N.C.
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August 27, 2010 127th year
Furniture facility, jobs coming to High Point BY PAM HAYNES ENTERPRISE STAFF WRITER
HIGH POINT – A Canadian company expanding to High Point will provide an injection of furniture manufacturing and office jobs, the High Point Economic Development Corp. announced Thursday. NLnovalink, based in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada, bought a 5.6-acre site at the corner of Mendenhall Oaks Parkway and Heron Place with plans to build a 53,000-square-foot manufacturing, corporate and client service center facility, according to a release from the company. Its USA
headquarters will be housed there. About 30 people will be hired initially, but the company plans to grow its employment base in the city to 75. Tony Vander Park, company president, said a date to begin construction had not yet been set, but it would “occur in the coming months,” and the facility should be in operation within a year. EDC President Loren Hill said the jobs will follow “fairly imminently” upon its completion. “They already are convinced of our good work force here, especially our furniture manufacturing work force,” he said. “It’s
a large project in the content of what we expect to announce this year.” The company is family-owned and manufactures office furniture. It creates desks and technology-focused workstations under the trade name “I.T. focused DESKING,” the release said. Hill said the company considered other locations in the Triad, but the project was brought to the High Point EDC’s attention thanks to a lead from the Piedmont Triad Partnership. The EDC worked with the company for nearly two and half years to recruit them to High Point. “They looked at many dif-
ferent sites and buildings, but what they wanted was very specific, so they decided to build,” he said. “This site really caught their attention. Mayor Becky Smothers played a large role in the project as well.” The company did not apply for or receive financial incentives to relocate to the city, but the City Council voted five months ago to authorize funds for improvements to Heron Place and make it a public street. The improvements will allow truck traffic for NLnovalink to access the future building, Hill said. phaynes@hpe.com | 888-3617
Ray of hope
WHO’S NEWS
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Alexis Smith, adjunct instructor in the Phillips School of Business at High Point University, was recently nominated and accepted into the 2011 Who’s Who. The Who’s Who is a directory of leaders and achievers from both the United States and around the world from fields such as librarians, students, researchers, educators and more.
INSIDE
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WATCH YOUR SPEED: Troopers to monitor school zones. 1B
Job seekers: Search is difficult but improving Before you read...
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OBITUARIES
Sixth in a seven-part series.
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Vincent Brooks, 66 Robert Campbell, 55 Richard Edelmann, 60 Danny Hingleton, 90 Harold Joyce, 88 Hazel Lowe, 85 Barbara Shives, 71 Annie Truesdale, 63 Charles Walker, 69 Obituaries, 2-3B
BY PAM HAYNES ENTERPRISE STAFF WRITER
HIGH POINT – Job seekers can tell you that the only thing certain about today’s job market is its uncertainty. Take Brian Frazier of H i g h Point, for example. The 32year-old landed HARD TIMES a manufacturing Living in the job with recession Thomas ■■■ B u i l t Buses in 2005 and thought it was all he would ever need. “I was making a decent amount of money, and I was happy there,” Frazier
DON DAVIS | HPE
The Sears operations center at Oak Hollow Mall held a job fair to fill positions earlier this month. said. “The initial layoff was a real wake-up call for me.” The High Point-based school bus manufacturer cut about 300 jobs, some temporary and some full time, in the last year and a half when the economy began to dip. Frazier was
among the first laid off in November 2008. “You have a lot of things that flood through your mind at that point,” he said about being laid off the first time. “I have a fiance and three children, and you wonder how you will sustain your livelihood.”
After the layoff, he found that businesses weren’t hiring. If they were, they were only willing to pay minimum wage. With unemployment benefits coming, he decided to enroll in ECPI College of Technology and work part time on the weekends.
“I took it as my chance to focus on my education,” he said. About 100 employees, including Frazier, were called back earlier this summer, but Frazier said they were warned that
JOBS, 2A
Refinancing completed on matured IHFC debt BY PAUL B. JOHNSON ENTERPRISE STAFF WRITER
HIGH POINT – A commercial finance company recently closed on the refinancing of the matured loan for the International Home Furnishings Center. Grandbridge Real Estate Capital, a subsidiary of BB&T Corp., announced this week that it closed on the $103.2 million refinancing of the High Point Market’s largest showroom building. The IHFC features nearly 3.5 million square feet of showroom space. The refinancing of the loan reflects confidence in the long-term future of the IHFC, said IHFC President Tom Mitchell. Grandbridge’s Charlotte office arranged the
transaction between IHFC and NATIXIS Real Estate Capital, said Mike Ortlip, senior vice president with Grandbridge. “Grandbridge and NATIXIS had previously provided financing for IHFC, and – unique in today’s capital markets – the same members of both firms’ deal teams were still in place from the original financing,” Ortlip said. The original deal was closed in 2005, Grandbridge reports. Charlotte-based Grandbridge features an investor base that includes insurance companies, pension fund advisers, commercial banks and capital markets investors. Grandbridge arranges permanent commercial
WEATHER
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Mostly sunny High 84, Low 62 6D
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INFO Circulation Classified Newsroom Newsroom fax SPECIAL | HPE
The International Home Furnishings Center is seen from the front of Showplace. and multifamily real estate loans, services loan portfolios and provides asset and portfolio management and real estate
brokerage services nationwide. Grandbridge has a servicing portfolio of about $24.5 billion represent-
YOUR COMMUNITY. YOUR NEWSPAPER.
ing nearly 100 capital providers, the company reports. pjohnson@hpe.com | 888-3528
888-3511 888-3555 888-3527 888-3644