The Move from 335 North Greene to 5920 Summit Ave, Browns Summit, NC in 1988
By 1986 it was apparent that we were outgrowing the space we leased at 335 North Greene Street. I was introduced to Fred Preyer, a commercial real estate agent in Greensboro (brother of former US Congressman L. Richardson Preyer) and together we began the search for a new location for the outdoor power equipment parts and accessory division of DSC, a search that consumed much of 1986 and the early part of 1987.
We initially settled on a new building size of an approximately 40,000 square foot rectangle. I was later asked by a warehousing consultant why I didn’t choose a building size of 38,500 square feet or 41,350 square feet instead of 40,000. I never had a good answer for him, but there was little argument that his point was well-made.
The search for a building site began on the western and south-western side of Greensboro near the regional airport. The airport area was a hot spot then for new distribution center construction as well as south on Hwy 68 towards High Point and along I-40 in the airport area. It became evident that this land and exiting buildings in the airport area were highly valued and highly priced. And I knew that as long as UPS could get to us and back to their local hub every evening in a timely manner to make the last package sort, the location of our business was flexible.
Another area that we looked at that was relatively undeveloped at that time was Wendover Ave south of I-40. We were looking at land and buildings more at the far end of Wendover closer to the Hwy 68 South/Eastchester Drive corridor. Fred told me to remember our trips out Wendover and what we saw and experienced, because he aptly predicted that area would be in grid-lock not too many years in the future as the area developed with huge retail stores and dozens of restaurants.
After some months we exhausted the airport, Hwy 68 and Wendover Ave corridors and distribution center sites, and began looking east to Whitsett, Burlington, and the Rock Creek Industrial Park between Greensboro and Burlington along I-40/I-85 corridor, and up the Hwy 29 North corridor towards Browns Summit as far north as Benaja Road.
Two areas stood out initially and both made it to the final cut. One was Rock Creek Industrial Park just off I-40 east of Greensboro in its very early stages of development and the other was the Reedy Fork Ranch development near Bryan Park and Lake Herman Corporate Park. Reedy Fork Ranch already contained a large Proctor and Gamble manufacturing plant and an Allen Bradley manufacturing plant. Lake Herman Corporate Park already had some smaller manufacturing and packing plants like Bonset that were doing some work for P&G making stretch film and packaging.
In Rock Creek Park, we focused on a 12 acre parcel of flat land shaped like a narrow arrowhead. On the two long sides, local roads existed giving the entire parcel excellent access to freight trucks and UPS/Federal Express trucks.
In Lake Herman Corporate Park, we were focusing on two side-by-side parcels of about 4 to 5 acres each facing toward Lake Herman across the road giving us the roughly 10 to 12 acres we were seeking.
In the Reedy Fork Ranch, there was a 50 to 60 acre parcel across Summit Ave from P&G and Allen Bradley that was not very deep backing up to a creek. It was not very level, with rolling small hills but did have excellent road frontage on Summit Avenue along the whole parcel and structure visibility would be strong. We looked for an 8 to 12 acre section of the large parcel across from P&G that would be suitable for a 40,000 square foot building. We started at the end of the parcel near the interchange with Hwy 29 North, but Bill Mericka representing the family owning all of Reedy Fork Ranch, kept pushing us down slowly and surely to the opposite end of the tract. We ended up considering a triangle piece of land bounded by Reedy Fork Creek on the west, Summit Ave on the north and a straight line on the east from Summit Ave back to just on the other side of Reedy Fork Creek.
1989 Aerial Photo of Dixie Sales Company After Initial Construction
Greensboro Daily News, Summer of 1988
The new distribution center at 5920 Summit Avenue, Brown’s Summit, NC 27214 was a 40,000 square foot rectangle, with 4,400 square feet of office in the right front corner and a second floor directly above with 4,400 square feet that initially was about 40% finished as a meeting and training room, and eventually the location of the expanded call center. The mezzanine, added by American Handling in the early 1990’s totaled 21,400 square feet. It had a solid floor with some give and cushioning in it. Conveyors and the mezzanine were added in two stages in 1990 and 1992.
1988
Back Row: Darryl Mullins (TM), John Steele (GM), Randy Hilliard (Parts/CallCenter), Ray Meeks (TM), Mark Plott (Parts/Call Center) kneeling, Ruth Brame (Parts, Purchasing) kneeling, Joe DeLuca (Ombudsman), Bob Ring (Call Center), Bob Billingsley (TM)
Front Row: Greg Petrash (Parts/Call Center), Tom Friddle (TM), Jim Starmer (President), Dave Amos (Sales Manager), Chuck Mayer (Warehouse Manager), Lee Hawley (Parts/Call Center), Curt Harshey (Trainer/Tech), Brian Weathers (Receiving/Warehouse)
1988 Original Shelving Layout at 5920 Summit Avenue
No comments:
Post a Comment