Ashley announced in April that it was putting $80 million of its money where its mantra is — reinvesting in the USA. The complex for the largest U.S. furniture manufacturer and retailer will be on a 680-acre site near Advance and Smith Grove.
Ashley's plans are for a distribution and manufacturing operation that will have 550 employees at full production in 2016.
According to the Davie County register of deeds, the company spent $10.44 million on a 320-acre site owned by Asheboro businessman Jeff Schwartz. The sale closed June 22.
Ashley received a 360-acre site from the county Economic Development Commission, which was donated to the commission by R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. in October. That land is valued at $3.5 million, according to county property-tax records.
The company expects to carve out a 418,000-square-foot distribution center from the 1.7 million-square-foot facility at the site and have it operational by November. After it builds a 507,000-square-foot distribution center in the next year, it will convert the first distribution center into a manufacturing plant.
"We will now experience a rapid move by the company to be operational by September in the existing buildings," Terry Bralley, the commission's president, said Monday. He said Ashley officials toured the site last week.
"Ashley still expects this to be their largest operation in the world. This is only the beginning of more jobs coming to our community," Bralley said.
He said the company has hired a human-resources official "who knows the area." It has posted at least seven jobs for the Davie complex on its website, www.ashleyfurniture.com. The jobs also are listed at www.daviecountyblog.com/jobs.
The first round of jobs will be focused on logistics, warehouse and distribution operations.
The complex represents the culmination of Ashley's six-year quest to better serve the Southeast and relieve an overall supply-chain squeeze, Chief Executive Todd Wanek said in April.
It also signifies Ashley's confidence in Davie and the Triad as the ideal site for an expansion that company Chairman Ron Wanek, Todd's father, acknowledges is "a huge, huge risk and undertaking" given the shaky U.S. economy.
The privately held company is based in Arcadia, Wis. According to trade publication Furniture Today, Ashley had $3.03 billion in sales as a manufacturer in 2010 and 422 retail stores with $2.39 billion in sales in 2010.
There is talk of a potential Phase 2 — an overall expansion projected to require another 550 jobs. Ashley officials said they wanted to achieve Phase 1 success first.
The state has made Ashley eligible for up to $3.19 million over a 10-year period from the Job Development Investment Grant, as well as being eligible for $825,000 from the One North Carolina Fund.
The local incentive packages include a $2.5 million grant from the Golden Leaf Foundation to the county to buy equipment for Ashley. The company will lease the equipment from the county and eventually reimburse it.
The $1 million cost of adding public sewer to the site is being covered by federal and state grants. The company is eligible for up to $930,000 in county incentives. The county also is waiving $240,000 in fees that include business inspections and water and sewer.
Davie also is providing $37,505 toward the removal of a waste facility at the complex.
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