Siler City Furniture Manufacturer Expanding, Hiring 37
- By ChathamEDC
- 24 April, 2012
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SILER CITY – The North Carolina Rural Economic Development Center awarded the town of Siler City an $182,125 grant to help renovate and expand the building used by Lazar Industries.
The upholstered furniture manufacturer plans to add 17,500 square feet of additional manufacturing space. The addition will help add at least 37 new jobs to Lazar’s current labor force of 70.
“This expansion will help us adapt to where we are seeing growth happen now,” Lazar President Robert Luce said. “We are aggressively hiring skilled upholstery workers at this time.”
Lazar also has a California facility to service its western North America customers.
“We are firmly committed to servicing our West Coast customers from our Los Angeles facility,” Luce continued. “Costs in California continue to escalate, and we are taking advantage of an ample labor force, favorable business climate and competitive tax advantages offered by the state of North Carolina. Maintaining the two factories gives us total flexibility to grow our business nationally and to direct the production where needed.”
Lazar reports sales increases in the first two months of 2012 of 32 percent over the same period last year.
“I would like to thank all responsible parties of the state, County, and Siler City for providing support and encouragement to Lazar,” Siler City Mayor Charles Johnson said. “Let us remind others that business opportunities are alive, rebounding, and now thriving in Siler City.”
“We were happy to work with the town in preparing the grant application,” said Chatham Economic Development Corporation President Dianne Reid. “It’s great to see a company in one of North Carolina’s traditional manufacturing sectors rebounding.”
The Rural Center’s Building Reuse and Restoration Grants Program enhances commercial property in the state’s 85 rural counties by restoring vacant buildings and by expanding and renovating buildings currently occupied by certain types of businesses.
For more information, contact the Chatham Economic Development Corporation at 919-542-8274.
