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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowNew Jersey-based Munire Furniture Inc. on Friday announced plans to locate its U.S. manufacturing headquarters in Gas City, adding as many as 100 jobs to the city by the end of the year and as many as 350 by 2013.
Munire, which distributes children’s furniture such as cribs and dressers, also announced the launch of its higher-end Echelon Furniture division, which also will be headquartered in Gas City.
The company plans to invest $5 million to purchase and equip the 200,000-square-foot former Amcast building for production. Amcast, a General Motors supplier, filed for bankruptcy earlier this year.
The Indiana Economic Development Corp. offered the Echelon Furniture division up to $1.3 million in performance-based tax credits and up to $20,000 in training grants based on job creation. Gas City will provide up to $2.5 million in economic revenue bonds.
“Munire Furniture has determined that there is a tremendous need for better furniture targeted to an existing known untapped market,” Munire Furniture President Munir Hussain said in a prepared statement. “Echelon Furniture in Indiana will begin its full plant operations and production starting in November to fill this void.”
Munire is the second large furniture maker to target Grant County this year. Chinese furniture maker Y.K. Furniture announced in June that it would establish its U.S. headquarters in Marion, with plans to create up to 100 new jobs during the next four years.
Established in 1995, Munire distributes to customers such as Babies R Us and Burlington Coat Factory, as well as specialty stores in the United States, Canada, Mexico and Puerto Rico.
Gas City, about 75 miles north of Indianapolis, has a population of about 5,700.
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