Mar. 31--LEXINGTON

The Stanley Furniture plant that closed last year has new owners.

David Griffin and his father, D.H. Griffin, whose company is based in Greensboro, bought the property earlier this month.

The purchase was made under DDC Investments, which is under D.H. Griffin Companies.

Stanley Furniture Co. Inc. announced last July that it would close the Lexington plant, eliminating 350 jobs by last October. The plant is on West Center Street and is about 300,000 square feet.

The company bought the property for $448,500, according to documents filed in the Davidson County Register of Deeds.

David Griffin said yesterday that there has been no decision on what to do with the property.

"We don't have immediate plans," he said. "We're hoping to find some tenants for warehouse space."

Another possibility is demolishing the plant and redeveloping the property, he said.

D.H. Griffin Companies specializes in a number of services, including demolition. The company has bought other industrial properties, including an old Ford plant in Atlanta, Griffin said.

The Stanley Furniture plant has an underground fuel tank and an underground wastewater tank, according to documents at the Davidson County Register of Deeds. Griffin said that the company will address any environmental issues with those tanks.

Lexington has seen a number of furniture plants close in recent years. Davidson County has lost almost 5,000 jobs in the past 7 1/2 years, including the 350 jobs from Stanley Furniture.

The city of Lexington bought Lexington Home Brands' Plant 1 two years ago and is working to redeveloping the property. The Landmark Group, a Winston-Salem company, is planning to transform the former United Furniture Plant into a 94-unit, mixed-use development.

Radford Thomas, the president and chief executive of the Lexington Area Chamber of Commerce, said he is glad to see that the plant might get new life.

"With the purchase of the facility, it would be great to have another tenant providing jobs and contributing to the community," he said.

Michael Hewlett can be reached at 727-7326 or at mhewlett@wsjournal.com.

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