by Move to new building planned at 115 S. Hamilton Street is the organizations 3rd location in 25 years
HIGH POINT — For the third time in its 25-year history, the High Point Market Authority will be moving to a new headquarters located at 115 S. Hamilton Street.
The HPMA announced the news during its board meeting in High Point on Wednesday, noting that the move is expected to take place by early 2027, or in time for the spring market of that year.
The Hamilton Global property, which is owned by Lacquer Craft President Mohamad Amini, previously housed a showroom for Global Furniture USA. The site has been razed to make way for the new three-story building, which will be located between the Violino and Universal showrooms on South Hamilton.
The Market Authority is moving from an estimated 7,000 square feet of space in the Radio Building at 164 S. Main St. that it has occupied since 2011. Before this it was in the First Factors building downtown since its inception around 2000.
It will lease roughly 21,000 square feet on the third floor of the building, and the first two floors are planned to be used as showroom space, officials noted.
“We have only occupied two addresses in our 25 years, so this is a big move for us,” said Tammy Covington, president and chief executive officer of the High Point Market Authority, noting that the space not only provides more room for its offices, but also the opportunity to consolidate services and facilities the organization has had outside its offices such as The Point. It also will have meeting space for its board meetings, which Covington said have never been held at the HPMA offices. “We are very excited about what this offers… I think this is going to be a game changer for us.”
Terry Venable, senior vice president of operations at the HPMA, said it will cost about $1.25 million to upfit its third floor space, which would be offset with an estimated $250,000 in contributions from the owner for the improvements. The remaining $1 million is expected to be paid from reserves, which would amount to roughly $100,000 per year for the duration of the initial lease.
The organization also expects to achieve cost savings by moving services offered through The Point to the new offices.
“The Point has been a wonderful venue for us for a variety of events, but it is very expensive to move in and out of that every six months,” board member and HPMA Government Affairs Liaison Doug Bassett said at the HPMA meeting. “Being able to bring that into the new headquarters will eliminate the cost of The Point and also will be extended to other things that are being done offsite… It is all just going to work so much more smoothly than what we have been working around for the last decade.”
Covington believes the move will be a positive for the Market Authority and the beneficiaries of its many market services for years to come.
“Terry and I have been looking for office space for a while and were always thinking what the next iteration of this will look like,” she said. “We love the Radio Building and the location has been perfect, but this just presented an opportunity that we felt like was a good fit for us.”
