Indianapolis furniture manufacturer relocating to Whitestown

An Indianapolis-based commercial furniture manufacturer is planning to spend about $10 million to move its headquarters to a new facility in Whitestown.

Facility Concepts Inc., one the country’s largest commercial furniture makers, plans to move its headquarters on Zionsville Road, near West 76th Street, to a new industrial building in AllPoints at Anson.

Thje company said it will retain the jobs of its existing 117 fulltime workers at the new facility, but likely will need to replace some of the employees if they choose not to make the move. The new facility is about 10 miles away from the current headquarters.

The Whitestown Town Council on Wednesday night approved a 10-year real-property tax abatement for the project, which will be developed by a joint venture between Duke Realty Corp. and Browning Investments LLC.

The 251,080-square-foot building for FCI will be built off Interstate 65 to the south of an existing Express Scripts facility, between County Road 450 South and County Road 500 South and along Perry Worth Road. About 20,000 square feet of the space in the building will be used for offices and a showroom.

The tax incentive is expected to save the developers about $1.1 million in total during the 10-year abatement period. Browning/Duke Realty will own the building and lease it to FCI. The owners would still pay about $1.7 million in real property taxes during the abatement period. The current annual real-property tax bill on the undeveloped land is $648.

Duke and Browning told the town it didn't plan to construct the building without the abatement, and FCI would have chosen to remain in Indianapolis without the new facility.

Construction is expected to begin June 1, and the project could be completed by the end of November.

FCI was founded in 2003 and manufacturers commercial furniture for customers in education, entertainment, food service, hospitality and retail industries. It has worked for clients including McDonald’s, Marriott, Starbucks, Hilton Hotels and Bloomingdales.

The company also has operations in the Indiana city of Peru and a plant on the northwest side of Indianapolis near 86th Street and Georgetown Road.

Average hourly wages at the new facility are expected to range from $31.03 per hour for 31 salaried staff members to as little as $13.75 to $15 per hour for 70 semi-skilled workers.

The 600-acre industrial park that is part of Duke Realty Corp.’s $1 billion Anson development is already home to Amazon.com, Express Scripts, Weaver Popcorn Co., Kenco and General Nutrition Corp.