Loomcraft Textiles buys Sears facility for warehousing for $6M

Loomcraft Textiles an upholstery fabric supplier to the industry and a dealer in closeouts and seconds who is doing its bit to help its retail customers by giving away 100,000 yards of fabric at its outlet store has recently purchased the former Sears distribution center in Greensboro for $6 million, with plans to use 200,000 square feet of space within the facility for warehousing and lease out the remaining space to other tenants.

Brian Frankel, vice president of Loomcraft Textiles, said that the deal closed the last week of January. MDBA Holdings Greensboro LLC, an entity created by Loomcraft to own the building, purchased the vacant 1.75 million-square-foot Sears facility at 2801 Lawndale Drive from Greensboro Distribution Group LLC.

The sale of the Sears center is significant because it is the Triad’s largest distribution facility. It once was one of 11 catalog distribution centers that Sears operated around the country, spanning as large as 3.5 million square feet. However, the Sears center was torn down by about half to make way for a shopping center anchored by Target and Harris Teeter and surrounding retail development.

Loomcraft, one of the largest purchases of fabric through close-outs from major textile companies, previously occupied about 400,000 square feet within the Sears facility. But the company moved out of the Greensboro building about a decade ago after purchasing the former WestPoint Stevens facility in Burlington comprised of 720,000-square-foot building at 2516 Industry Drive. Loomcraft purchased the Alamance County building in 2007 for $8 million.

Frankel said that his company had purchased the Burlington building because they felt it was a very unique opportunity given its presence on 80/45 that also provided our business with a permanent location in North Carolina.

Loomcraft will continue to operate a 15,000-square-foot showroom open to the public at the Burlington facility, where the company will house a few employees. It will rent out the remaining space in Burlington to other undisclosed tenants.

Loomcraft will occupy the basement area of the Sears facility and lease the remaining 1.5 million square feet to tenants for warehouse and distribution operations. Potential tenants could include third-party logistics providers.