By John R. Schirmer
News-Leader staff
The Husqvarna manufacturing plant and warehouse in Nashville have been purchased by Phoenix Investors of Milwaukee, Wisc., according to Mayor Larry Dunaway.
Both properties could be found on the Phoenix website Tuesday morning. Phoenix says it is a “national commercial real estate firm” based in Milwaukee. “Our core business is revitalization of former manufacturing companies throughout the United States.”
Phoenix has properties in 29 states.
Husqvarna announced last year that it will close the Nashville operation by the end of 2024. Job cuts will begin in September and continue into December, with 408 workers affected.
Dunaway was on a Zoom call with Phoenix officials Friday, July 26, along with representatives of Husqvarna and the Developing Howard County board of directors.
“Something they said during the call piqued my interest,” Dunaway said. “Phoenix has sent emails to hundreds of companies they work with about the Husqvarna property” as the company looks for potential buyers.
Once Phoenix takes over the Nashville facilities, “The first thing they will do is start a clean-up,” Dunaway was told Friday. “They will get rid of leftover equipment and strip the buildings clean. They will paint if need be. They want buyers to come in it and imagine their business going on there.”
The clean-up will begin after Husqvarna vacates the buildings and is expected to take about two months, Dunaway said.
Local officials are “working on a complete roster of companies that could support a new manufacturing plant,” according to Dunaway, including Mission Plastics and Jan-Eze Plating, Inc.
Phoenix officials will visit Nashville in about three weeks, Dunaway was told. “They will go back over the facility and do a punchlist to prepare for sale or lease.”
Dunaway said the Zoom meeting with Kurt Jenson, senior VP Acquisition and Leasing, and others at Phoenix Investors lasted about 20 minutes. Jenson was unaware of the lithium operations which have begun in Southwest Arkansas and was “very interested” in the possibilities they might offer.
Dunaway told Jenson that he looks forward to their face-to-face meeting in Nashville. “We’ll get more of an idea of what they’re looking at.” Officials from state agencies and Venessa Weeks, director of Developing Howard County, are among those likely to meet with the Phoenix representatives.
“I’m proud we have an announcement,” Dunaway said. He awaits more information about the future of the warehouse and manufacturing plant. As the Husqvarna closure approaches, “The mood in Nashville will be at a low ebb” until plans for the facility are announced.
Dunaway said he has been contacted by officials in other cities about the Husqvarna plant and sale to Phoenix. “There’s a lot of interest. Now that the property has sold, we can start on the next step. I’m feeling good after the call” with Jenson.
More details about the sale are expected this week in a statement from Phoenix Investors.
“I’m looking forward to them coming,” Dunaway said. “I’ve done some research. They’re the real deal.
Jenson said Phoenix is “keying in on how many will lose jobs. He said he is looking at companies big enough to fill those jobs that are being lost,” according to Dunaway.
The 300,000 square-foot manufacturing plant was built in 1976. The 350,000 square-foot warehouse opened in 2017.
Board meeting
Dunaway discussed the Husqvarna at the Developing Howard County board meeting July 25, before his conversation with Phoenix Investors.
Steve Harvill of the local Husqvarna Plant and Dunaway and Dunaway held a session at which papers were signed releasing liens and bonds on the solar farm and warehouse.
He told the board that Phoenix was buying the Husqvarna plant and warehouse. “At least we know who we’re talking to. I hope they’ll have someone to lease or buy.”
County Judge Brent Pinkerton said he received two letters from Husqvarna dealing with the release of the workforce. The Southwest Planning and Development District at Magnolia will work with the employees, Pinkerton said.
“When the layoffs start, the mood will get a little low in the community,” Dunaway told the board. “We’ll be going into Thanksgiving and Christmas with layoffs. That will be tough.”
Rory Gulick, Southwest Arkansas business manager with the Arkansas Economic Development Commission, attended last week’s board meeting. “We’ve had people from South Arkansas willing to come here. I don’t want to see 600 people [from Nashville] move across the state.”
Board chairperson Paul Britt said the local workforce “is the biggest asset.”
Gulick said there is “a really good workforce at the Husqvarna facility, highly skilled, highly qualified. The workforce will be very attractive.”
Nick Brooks of the Dierks Weyerhaeuser plant attended the meeting. Britt said he wanted to give “recognition to Weyerhaeuser for all they do. We’ve been too quiet about recognizing them.”
Vice chairperson Charlie Smith thanked Brooks and Weyerhaeuser “for recognizing your employees” in a number of ways.
In other discussion, Smith said a site development lunch and learn with about 50-60 people from around the state “was very informative. Other counties face the same challenges that we have. Husqvarna’s announcement was devastating, but it has prompted us to be pro-active. The spotlight is on Southwest Arkansas. The ball is rolling.”
Smith said a recent community meeting in Mineral Springs had only four attendees. “They had a lot of ideas. Many were along the lines of retail businesses.”
Britt told the board that Weeks is working on business and industry profiles for Howard County.
Gulick said that he attends meetings with similar groups in South Arkansas and praised the local board. “You have a lot of ideas. You try to move forward. You’re looking for ways to impact the community. You’re a very good group.”
Gulick said Weyerhaeuser is “an incredible organization. I congratulate you.”
Nashville and Howard County are “a community with a heart. When my father-in-law [Hubert Hardin] died, I saw the love and compassion of the community for the family.”
Weeks reviewed Howard County’s tier rankings from the state.
The county is ranked 27th out of 75 in Arkansas and is in the second tier.
Average weekly earnings amount to $783.37, the report said, with an average hourly wage of $19.58.
