Today, the North Carolina Department of Commerce announced Grand Manor Furniture a recipient of the Rural Economic Development Division Building Reuse grant award. The $400,000 grant will assist the company with renovations to the vacant Thomasville Furniture plant in Lenoir.
“We appreciate the partnership and support from the NC Department of Commerce, Caldwell County Commission and EDC and the City of Lenoir. We can’t wait to get started. This will be a great project for everyone,” said Grand Manor President Mike Moore.
The company will be relocating their operation from its current 85,000-square-foot Harrisburg Drive facility to the former Thomasville Furniture site, where Grand Manor plans to occupy 200,000 square feet of the 800,000-square foot facility. Plans also call for adding 75 workers over the next two years.
“Grand Manor has done phenomenally well. They are very highly respected not just in our community, but across the country,” EDC Executive Director Deborah Murray told the Caldwell County Board of Commissioners at their January meeting, when the board approved the furniture manufacturer’s local incentive package.
“I'm thankful that local businesses like Grand Manor can expand and grow and that is what a commissioner loves to be a part of, helping local business grow. It is an honor to be a part of this success story as we continue to grow Caldwell County” said Caldwell County Board of Commissioners’ Chair Randy Church.
“The City of Lenoir is really excited that Grand Manor continues to grow and that they chose to put the former Thomasville Furniture plant back into operation. What a great story and what a great company,” said City of Lenoir Mayor Joe Gibbons.
In business in Lenoir for 59 years, Grand Manor manufactures commercial seating products and markets them to hotels, timeshares, and casinos.
“We are one of the last companies in this country that is vertically integrated. We do everything ourselves. We make our own frames, do our own finishes, do our own shop drawings, do our own upholstery… We import nothing to make our products. Being domestic and vertically integrated gives us an advantage in the hotel industry that no one else has,” explained Moore.