WINSTON-SALEM, NC - United Furniture Industries plans to invest $5 million to convert a former Hanesbrands factory into an upholstered furniture plant and distribution center that will create 200 jobs.

United Furniture, manufacturer of Simmons, is expected to begin redeveloping the 850,000-square-foot historic Weeks plant as early as next month, the Triangle Business Journal reported.

Two weeks ago, United Furniture received $150,000 in performance-based incentives from the Forsyth County Board of Commissioners. This came on the heels of incentives approved by the Winston-Salem City Council, premised on United Furniture making a commitment to maintain the operation for at least 10 years.

United Furniture is still waiting approval of a state job training grant. The average salary of jobs at the facility will be $28,420, plus benefits, according to the TBJ report.

Hanes shut down textile production at the Weeks plant in 2010, while using about one-third of the building for research and development and quality control activities. The company sold the facility last March to a developer Michael Bay for $3.2 million. Bay who had planned to convert building into a retail home furnishings mall announced in November that he had decided to lease the facility instead after failing to drum up enough furniture tenants, according to Fox 8 News.

When Hanes opened the Weeks plant in 1960, it was the largest manufacturing plant in North Carolina.