Selected Furniture Moves Chinese Plant to Indiana

Selected FurnitureSelected Furniture will move its Chicago-based headquarters, assembly and warehouse plant to Indiana. CHICAGO — Restaurant furniture maker Selected Furniture announced it is moving its Chicago-based operations and Chinese commercial-grade wood manufacturing plant to Starke County, Indiana.

Selected Furniture said it will invest $1.2 million to purchase and revamp the 200,000-square-foot facility at 1001 W. Culver, in Knox, IN. Selected Furniture was offered up to $425,000 in conditional tax credits by the Indiana Economic Development Corp. plus granted additional property tax abatement by the Knox City Council. 

IEDC also offered Selected Furniture up to $87,500 in training grants, based on its job creation plans. According to a statement released by the IEDC, the company has already begun to hire woodworkers, upholsterers, finishers and other personnel; the economic development agency said the move is expected to create 100 new jobs in Indiana by 2014.

Prior to the announcement, Selected Furniture had approximately 120 employees nationwide; the figure for employees at the Chinese facility was not readily available.

Founded in 2003, the vertically integrated company manufactures wood components at a 100,000-square-foot factory in China, which are shipped to the 200,000-square-foot assembly and warehouse plant in Chicago. The company also has a 75,000-square-foot facility where it manufactures tubular metal parts. Additional distribution centers are located in Jacksonville, FL, and Los Angeles, CA.

Among the products manufactured for the hospitality industry are wood and metal chairs, barstools, seating booths, and veneer, laminate and solid wood tables, the latter of which are already manufactured in the United States.

Watch a video of Selected Furniture's manufacturing of tables: