Agenda - 06-01-1992 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Durham sports. companyb,uys ftm-iiture plant Eurosport plans warehouse in Hickory- White. fadhty By BLAKE DICKINSON The Chapel Hill Herald HILLSBOROUGH — A Durham sporting -goods distributor an- nounced Tuesday his company has purchased the Hickory - White Furniture plant and plans to move in sometime in October. "We wanted a small-town en- vironment, an environment we could participate in and not just be located in," said Mike Moy- lan, 25, co-owner of Eurosport. Eurosport will bring 45 em- ployees from its 10,000- square- foot facilities off U.S. 15 -501 near Mt. Moriah Road to the 82,000 - square -foot plant on U.S. 70 just outside downtown Hills- borough, Moylan said. The Eurosport announcement comes seven months after the president of Hickory- White's Mebane division told his 105 Hillsborough employees the plant would close in April. At the time, the furniture company was Hillsborough's fourth - largest employer. The White family, which opened its Mebane plant in 1881, bought the Hillsborough plant from another furniture company in 1940. The White family sold the plant to Hickory Furniture Company in 1985. The asking price for the 7.6- acre property was $800,000, ac- cording to developer Jim An- thony, who handled the Euros- port deal. He declined to give the selling price but said it was below that amount. "It's a great deal, it's going to be a great investment for them," he said. Hillsborough Mayor Horace Johnson said he welcomed Eu- rosport with open arms. "That's great news. I'll roll out the wel- "We wanted a small -town environment, an environment we could participate in and not just be located in." Mike Moylan Eurosport co -owner come mat myself." Moylan, a former assistant soccer coach at Orange High School, said he looks forward to the Hillsborough move and giv- ing something back to the town. "We have a very young com- pany," with an average em- ployee age of about 25, he said. Moving into the furniture plant and getting it ready will take some time and effort. Moy- lan said. "It's going to be a project." Eurosport and its employees initially plan to move into only the newer, 40,000 - square -foot aluminum section of the plant, Moylan said. The first -floor space will be used as a ware- house for sporting equipment that the 8- year -old company sends to other stores, he said. Wiring and renovation work have already begun on a part of the building's second floor, which will be used for office space. Moving into the older, wood- en space is more of a long -term project. Moylan said. Depending on growth — his company has The Chapel Hill Herald September 4, 1991 been g owing at an annual rate of 350 percent in recent years -- Eurosport could renovate and occupy the rest of the site within two years, he said. "We don't really know what we're going to do about retail right now," Moylan said, be- cause the site the plant occupies is not coned for such purposes. "We'll have to talk to the town about that." Hillsborough is willing to lis- ten, Johnson said. "I don't think that'll be much of a problem," he said. "We need to do as much as we can to create jobs." Given the seasonal fluctua- tion in business. Moylan said his company would not im- mediately be accepting applica- tions for business. The 45- person staff will be moving over from the Durham store in October. Moylan said. Business does pick up around . Christmas and in the summer, though, requiring about 70 em- ployees, he said. "We'll be accepting applica- tions in November." he said.