by Facility will be 2nd the company owns, including location in Virginia
LAKELAND, Fla. — Havertys’ recently announced plans to repurchase a 335,000-square-foot distribution center here is a reinvestment in a market that remains critical to its current and future growth plans.
Company executives Clarence Smith, chairman and chief executive officer, and Richard Hare, chief financial officer, recently shared details of the planned repurchase, which was revealed in an April 5 filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
Smith noted that Florida currently represents about 25% of the company’s 121 stores, for a total of 30 locations, according to the company’s latest annual report. He noted that the company had sold the building at the height of the pandemic to generate cash, although it continued to lease the facility. It also leases five other facilities in Georgia, Texas, Ohio, Alabama and Tennessee, and owns its 129,000-square-foot facility in Colonial Heights, Virginia.
The company said it is paying about $28 million to buy back the facility, a deal that is expected to close in mid-May.
But officials believe the investment is worth it because of the growth potential in the market.
“It is a growth area for us and we want to have more stores there,” Smith said of Florida, adding that the Lakeland location is well positioned because of its proximity to the I-4 corridor that rounds from South Daytona Beach to Sarasota in the western central part of the state.
“You really don’t want to go down to south Florida for a distribution center, because most of the product is coming from up here through the north,” he added. “We are bringing product through Savannah and sometimes out of Jacksonville and a very little out of Tampa. But the main thing is that it is central to the whole state and most people have figured out that is where you want to have a distribution center. Plus we can expand it.”
Hare also weighed in on the property relating to the company’s growth plans in Florida.
“We wanted to have the option or capability of expanding our distribution network out of Florida,” Hare said. “We have more stores in Florida than any other state. It’s a great market for us and we want to have the ability to expand that in the future.”
He said the company has already signed the purchase agreement and is currently in the due diligence phase. The closing is expected to take place sometime during the next quarter.
