KREAMER – A Middleburg business owner says he has a signed agreement in principle to buy the assets of Wood-Mode Inc. and plans to reopen the plant that was closed abruptly May 13.
“It will be a challenge in many ways,” Bill French, owner of Professional Building Systems, said Friday about getting the custom wood cabinet plant back into operation.
Professional Building Systems has been in business since 2000. It manufactures modular homes and apartments.
French said he is optimistic the deal will go through, noting that Wood-Mode’s principal lender, the Great Rock investment firm, has signed the agreement.
It is French’s plan to start small, but his future plans include employing between 200 and 500 people.
He already is reaching out to the 938 former Wood-Mode employees, some of whom have found other jobs, advising them of the purchase agreement and telling them he will begin to offer them jobs a few positions at a time.
“I look forward to working with many of you to build a successful company,” he told them on the Wood-Mode Friends Facebook page.
French also is contacting dealers, telling them he anticipates the purchase will be completed in the next two weeks. It’s in the hands of the lawyers, he said.
Many of the dealers have unfinished orders in the plant because the employees were told to leave the facility immediately after being told it was closing.
“I understand that things have been difficult for you and your customers the past month or so and that many orders had to be changed from Wood-Mode to other manufacturers,” French told dealers.
He hopes to convince those who found other manufacturers to return to Wood-Mode, he said.
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“I will do my best to lead a company that communicates with its dealers and delivers a quality product in a timely and reliable manner,” he said.
Attempts to reach current owners Robert and Brooks Gronlund were unsuccessful. They will not be involved in ownership of the new Wood-Mode, French said.
The deal with Great Rock includes the purchase and then sale of the Wood Metal Industries building in Selinsgrove. Robert Gronlund runs a business in that building.
“Finally we have some positivity instead of negatively,” said Michele Sanders, a former employee, about the pending purchase. “Everything’s been gloomy around here.”
“I’m still looking for another job,” she said, but added there is a chance she would return to Wood-Mode.
David Scarr, vice president of human resources, in a certified letter told the state Department of Labor and Industry the plant was force to close abruptly because a prospective buyer had backed out.
Then on May 10 management learned its lender was unwilling to provide additional funding that would enable the plant to remain open while exploring a sale to other potential buyers, the letter continued.