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Whirlpool Fort Smith
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Furniture retailer set to move to Fort Smith
Jul 8, 2015 | Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
By John Magsam
Furniture Factory Outlet Home is moving its headquarters and manufacturing operations from Oklahoma to Fort Smith. -
Furniture Factory Outlet moving HQ to Arkansas
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Furniture Factory Outlet Relocate Headquarters-Manufacturing Plant To Fort Smith, Arkansas
Jul 8, 2015 | Area Development News Desk
Furniture Factory Outlet will relocate its corporate headquarters and manufacturing operations from Oklahoma to Fort Smith, Arkansas, creating 64 new, full-time jobs. -
Your ArkansasBusiness.com headlines for Wednesday [includes video]
Jul 8, 2015 | KTHV 11
By Lance Turner
New jobs and a new corporate headquarters are moving to Fort Smith. -
Furniture Factory Moves Corporate Office [video clip]
Jul 8, 2015 | Fox 24 News at 7
Dozens of new jobs coming to the river valley as Furniture Factory Outlet announces the move of its corporate office. -
FFO Home Will Move Into Old Whirlpool Plant in Fort Smith [includes video]
Jul 8, 2015 | ABC 40/29 News Sunrise
a new business will move into the old whirlpool plan. ffo home will move its headquarters from muldrow. the company does have deep ties to that area.
Spartan Logistics
Full Text of Stories Below
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Furniture retailer set to move to Fort Smith
Jul 8, 2015 | Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
By John Magsam
Furniture Factory Outlet Home is moving its headquarters and manufacturing operations from Oklahoma to Fort Smith.
The move creates 64 full-time jobs in the city. The new home base for the furniture retailer will occupy about 180,000 square feet of space in the Spartan Logistics building -- the former Whirlpool distribution center.
Larry Zigerelli, chief executive of Furniture Factory Outlet Home, said Tuesday that the jobs will include executive-level positions in management, marketing, logistics, financing and customer service along with support staff. He declined to give a pay range but said the jobs were well-paying. Manufacturing operations will include mattresses, home decor items and some wood products.
Zigerelli told a crowd at the Fort Smith Regional Chamber of Commerce that Furniture Factory Outlet Home had a history in the city, with the company's first store opening on Rogers Avenue in 1984. Since then, the company has expanded to 36 retail locations in Arkansas, Oklahoma, Missouri and Kansas.
The move to Fort Smith will help facilitate further expansion, he said, with plan to add four to five stores each year. Zigerelli said growth will be focused in both small and large markets in the four states where the company now operates, but plans include strategic moves into contiguous states when the timing is right.
In Arkansas, the company operates 17 stores that employ 151. He said the Fort Smith operation, with logistics, headquarters and manufacturing all under one roof, will be more efficient than the company's setup in Muldrow, Okla., where the divisions occupy separate buildings.
"I'm excited to be in Fort Smith," he said.
Gov. Asa Hutchinson cracked jokes with the crowd of about 100, saying he's often asked why he spends so much time in the River Valley.
"I tell them it's because you have more job announcements," he said.
Hutchinson said job creation efforts like the Furniture Factory Outlet Home deal don't just happen, but require cooperation of the private sector, area chambers of commerce and municipal and state governments.
In October, Spartan Logistics finalized its purchase of Whirlpool Corp.'s 620,000-square-foot warehouse in Fort Smith. The warehouse is part of a 152-acre complex that includes 2.2 million square feet of buildings, along with Whirlpool's vacant plant, which was not part of the deal.
Whirlpool closed the plant in June 2012. At its peak, the appliance-maker employed 4,600 workers in Fort Smith and had about 800 when it shut the plant down. At the time, economists and city officials said the closing hurt the local economy.
Later that year, a wind-turbine plant built by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. was mothballed before a single job was created. The Chaffee Crossing plant still sits idle.
Since then, Fort Smith has seen slow but consistent growth. Two significant projects started this year in Chaffee Crossing. In March, construction started on an $80 million osteopathic medical school, and work began on a new $30 million corporate headquarters for Fort Smith-based trucking and logistics company ArcBest.
The Arkansas Tech University Business Index for the first quarter of 2015 showed Fort Smith ranked highest in the state with a rating of 108.05, up 0.44 points from the same period last year. Bentonville was ranked second for the quarter with 104.87 and Springdale was third with 104.17.
The index includes labor, housing, construction and retail sales information. A rating above 100 indicates a city is faring better than the state average.
Marc Fusaro, associate professor of economics at the College of Business at Arkansas Tech University in Russellville, said Fort Smith has been a powerhouse on the index for more than a year. He noted growth in the retail sector and construction were strong points in the city's economy.
He said Fort Smith's economy is more diverse than in the days when Whirlpool was a major employer. He said the city has seen more, but smaller, projects in recent years, which results in a more stable economy overall.
Furniture Factory Outlet Home's move to Fort Smith generates several benefits, Fusaro said. Headquarters jobs tend to pay better than average, and companies' philanthropic efforts tend to focus on the cities they call home.
Zigerelli hinted that would be the case, telling those gathered in Fort Smith that for Furniture Factory Outlet Home, community involvement was important and that he looked forward to a "deeper partnership" with the city and the region.
Preliminary data from the U.S. Department of Labor on the Fort Smith Metropolitan Statistical Area -- which covers Sebastian, Crawford and Franklin counties in Arkansas and Le Flore and Sequoyah counties in Oklahoma -- for May show unemployment at 5.9 percent, down from 6.2 percent for the same period in 2014. The statewide preliminary unemployment rate for May was 5.6 percent, down from 6.1 percent a year earlier.
Fort Smith's labor force in May stood at 121,766, up from 118,798 the same month in 2014 but still far below the decade high of 129,983 in 2007, before recession hit in 2008 and the region's labor force began to decline.
Scott Hardin, director of communications for the Arkansas Economic Development Commission, said incentives for the Furniture Factory Outlet Home move include a cash rebate of 3.9 percent of payroll created for new jobs for a four-year term, and $200,000 from the Governor's Quick Action Closing Fund for infrastructure improvements at the Fort Smith facility.
Link to article: http://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2015/jul/08/furniture-retailer-set-to-move-to-fort-/
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Furniture Factory Outlet moving HQ to Arkansas
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Furniture Factory Outlet Relocate Headquarters-Manufacturing Plant To Fort Smith, Arkansas
Jul 8, 2015 | Area Development News Desk
Furniture Factory Outlet will relocate its corporate headquarters and manufacturing operations from Oklahoma to Fort Smith, Arkansas, creating 64 new, full-time jobs.
FFO’s new headquarters will be located in the 618,000 square-foot Spartan Logistics Building that once housed the former Whirlpool distribution center. The company will occupy approximately 180,000 square feet.
“Moving our operations to Fort Smith provides the strategic foundation for our aggressive long term growth plans, and further builds on our commitment to Arkansas,” said President and CEO of FFO Home Larry Zigerelli. “I want to thank our partners Spartan Logistics, the Arkansas Economic Development Commission and the Fort Smith Chamber of Commerce for making this a reality.”
"It's always encouraging to have a company decide to locate a corporate headquarters in Arkansas," said Gov. Asa Hutchinson. "Companies from across the U.S. and internationally realize that our central location and versatile workforce make Arkansas an ideal destination. Thanks to FFO Home for choosing to make this significant investment in Arkansas. We are proud to now include FFO Home among the companies that call Arkansas home."
“Two bold moves led by two outstanding companies put this project in motion. In 2014, Spartan Logistics made a bold move to acquire and repurpose the former Whirlpool Distribution facility for their growing operations,” said Tim Allen, CEO and President of the Fort Smith Regional Chamber of Commerce. “Today, FFO Home made another bold move by locating their corporate headquarters and manufacturing operations in the Spartan Logistics building. The Chamber also worked hand in hand with the Arkansas Economic Development Commission and Mr. Bob Cooper with R.H. Ghan & Cooper Commercial Properties to make this project a reality for Fort Smith.”Link to article: http://www.areadevelopment.com/newsItems/7-7-2015/furniture-factory-outlet-relocate-headquarters-manufacturing-plant-fort-smith-arkansas121233.shtml
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Your ArkansasBusiness.com headlines for Wednesday [includes video]
Jul 8, 2015 | KTHV 11
By Lance Turner
New jobs and a new corporate headquarters are moving to Fort Smith.
Furniture Factory Outlet announced Tuesday that it will move its headquarters and manufacturing operations from Muldrow, Okla., to the Sebastian County city. The furniture maker and retailer said the move will create 64 full-time jobs.
Larry Zigerelli, president and CEO, FFO's CEO, said moving the company's operations provides a strategic foundation for long-term growth plans.
FFO plans to move into the 618,000 square foot Spartan Logistics Building that once housed a Whirlpool Distribution Center.
The company said it will occupy about 180,000 square feet of space.
FFO opened its first Arkansas store in 1984 on Rogers Avenue in Fort Smith. The company now owns and operates 36 retail stores in the Midwest, including 17 in Arkansas.
ARKANSAS BUSINESS
Furniture Factory Outlet to Move Headquarters to Fort Smith
In northwest Arkansas, Wal-Mart kicked off its second "Open Call" manufacturing summit with suppliers of US-made products.
The two-day event began at the company's headquarters in Bentonville and continues Wednesday at Bentonville High School. It's part of the retailer's initiative — announced in 2013 — to spend $250 billion more for American-produced goods for its stores.
During Tuesday's event, Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe talked about his state's efforts to diversify its manufacturing base to be less reliant on federal government defense spending.
Gov. Asa Hutchinson is scheduled to be part of this morning's general session.
ARKANSAS BUSINESS
Wal-Mart's 'Open Call' Draws Prospective Vendors, Governors
And finally, Moses Tucker Real Estate of Little Rock broke ground this week on a 36-unit apartment project in the city's historic MacArthur Park District.
The project, called Legion Village, sits along Rock Street between Capitol and Sixth.
It will include 36 rental units and the renovation of the MM Ebert's Legion Post No. 1 into 7,500 square feet of commercial/restaurant space.
Total development cost will be more than $5 million. The apartments are scheduled to open in May.
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Furniture Factory Moves Corporate Office [video clip]
Jul 8, 2015 | Fox 24 News at 7
Rough transcript:
Dozens of new jobs coming to the river valley as Furniture Factory Outlet announces the move of it's corporate office. FFO reveals they are moving from Roland Oklahoma to Fort Smith creating 64 new jobs. #### Sandy Sanders - Fort Smith mayor -- 'It's a symbol to people that things are continuing to grow and develop in Fort Smith, and it is a great day. It's great news for all of us. The governor was here, Arkansas Economic Development people were here, so it's a big day for Fort Smith - sixty for new corporate jobs.' FFO's new corporate office will be housed in the old Whirlpool warehouse.
Direct link to clip: http://beta.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view?14537100/token/0822e59d-1b9a-4137-892a-2a20750d2718
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FFO Home Will Move Into Old Whirlpool Plant in Fort Smith [includes video]
Jul 8, 2015 | ABC 40/29 News Sunrise
Rough transcript:
A new business will move into the old Whirlpool plant. FFO Home will move its headquarters from Muldrow. The company does have deep ties to that area. >> "Our company's roots in Fort Smith date back to 1984. The company was founded by our previous owner. That first store was on Rogers Avenue in Fort Smith."
Direct link to clip: http://beta.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view?14537103/token/0822e59d-1b9a-4137-892a-2a20750d2718
Spartan Logistics
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