Tuesday, December 07, 2004
By Rob Kirkbride
The Grand Rapids Press
GRAND RAPIDS -- A hulking furniture factory on the West Side is now the headquarters for Israels Designs for Living -- and more.
The former John Widdicomb Furniture Co. factory on the corner of Fifth Street and Seward Avenue NW has a new lease on life after an $11 million restoration project.
A private party was held Monday to show off the site, which officially opens in March.
Once open, the complex will house Israels corporate offices, Designs for Living and the new John Widdicomb Trade Center -- a multi-floor library of fabrics, carpets, tile, paint and furniture for interior designers.
The campus also will include Israels' warehouse and delivery, customer service and furniture repair.
Bob Israels and his son, David Israels, worked on revamping the building for two years, hiring contractors to strip out asbestos, remove contaminated soil and sandblast the brick and wood of more than 100 years of furniture-making soot.
"When my dad said he was going to buy this building, I thought he was crazy," said David Israels, describing the building constructed just after the end of the Civil War. "But the Widdicomb name is part of the history of Grand Rapids. To have it disappear would have been a shame."
The history of Widdicomb, the oldest registered furniture company in the United States, dates to 1858 when Englishman George Widdicomb and his three brothers opened a cabinet shop here. The John Widdicomb Co., after years of struggling, closed in 2002.
In 1996, the factory at 601 Fifth St. was named among the city's first renaissance zones, which eliminates most local and state taxes at that site for up to 15 years.
Bob Israels, president of Israels Design for Living, grew up about 10 blocks from the Widdicomb building.
He used to help his grandfather prepare Widdicomb showrooms for the Grand Rapids Furniture Market.
"My dad hated to see this piece of property in disrepair," David Israels said.
In 2002, Bob Israels bought it and it has been no small task to restore the building.
"The environmental cleanup took several months," David Israels said. "We had to dig out under the foundation to remove the contaminated soil. And there was a sandblasting crew working in the building for three months straight."
They had to add steel reinforcements to all the wooden beams and pour a film of concrete on each floor to level them out.
The finished product is impressive. Granite floors and plush carpeting replaced the sawdust-covered factory floors. New windows were installed. Stained-glass windows from the former Pearl Street Israels store were installed.
"The magnitude of this showroom will not only attract local businesses from West Michigan, but businesses from all over Michigan," said Bob Israels.
Israels also owns the building across Fifth Street, which was the former Widdicomb finishing plant, which will be turned into offices. He also owns the former Widdicomb office building across Seward, which he leases for offices.
A document storage building between the Widdicomb finishing plant and St. Adalbert Catholic Church was leveled and will be used for parking.
Israels unveils West Side complex
Started by
joeDowntown
, Dec 08 2004 02:57 PM
2 replies to this topic
#2
Allan
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Posted 08 December 2004 - 04:36 PM
Good news! I did not know there was so much history there, and it's nice to see that the building has a new lease on life.
#3
joeDowntown
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Posted 29 December 2004 - 07:07 AM
Israels goes back to the future
Monday, December 27, 2004 - MiBizWest
By Rod Kackley
MiBiz Network
GRAND RAPIDS — Grand Rapids has not seen anything like the John Widdicomb Trade Center since the early years of the 20th century when the West Michigan furniture industry drew designers, architects and furniture buyers from across the nation.
Israels Designs for Living General Manager David Israels believes the Widdicomb Trade Center will bring that kind of life back to Grand Rapids. During a sneak preview of the five-floor facility this month he told MiBiz, “We are establishing the John Widdicomb Trade Center as a completely new entity for Israels. It will be a to-the-trade design facility. We are looking for people in the design trade -architects, interior designers, furniture specifiers — they will be able to use the resources that will be available in this facility.”
The center will house three floors of furniture showrooms that will be available to those in the trade. Name brands such as Baker, Kindel, Ralph Lauren, Hekman, Hickory Chair, Harden, Century, EJ Victor, Pearson, Swaim, Woodland and Hickory White will be on display.
“There are other design centers throughout the country, but most of them are leased to different venders and factories and are a conglomeration of several individual showrooms. This is one of the few that I know of that is of this size — 75,000 square feet — and is actually owned by one party, ” said Israels
One floor of the Widdicomb Trade Center will be dedicated as the largest fabric showroom in West Michigan. It will include on-site support staff to assist with supplying memo fabric samples for designer use.
In addition to the staff in the fabric showroom, Israels said there would be a staff of account managers to serve the designers, whom he expects to come from across the nation.
“We will be bringing in designers who will be showcasing their products. They will be doing workshops and we will be organizing several events though the year that will attract people on an educational and social level as well as just for day-to-day business, “ he said.
Israels stated that the creation of the Trade Center came after exhaustive research that shows the design industry needs a facility like the one that is being built on the site of the former John Widdicomb furniture factory on the northwest side of Grand Rapids. And it seemed to make perfect sense, given the state of the industry itself.
“After looking at trends in the furniture industry over the last few years, we have seen that in higher-end furniture, over 35 percent of consumers are using the services of a professional interior designer,” Israels said. “We came to the conclusion a year ago to change the merchandise in our retail store to a more moderate priced, broader selection of lifestyle products, with the more design-oriented, higher-end products put into a separate facility.”
The John Widdicomb buildings were constructed when the Widdicomb sons returned home from the Civil War. Bob Israels began purchasing the property in 2001, beginning the process of environmental clean up and building restoration. Israels now owns four blocks of Widdicomb property. Not only does the Widdicomb Trade Center hearken back to an earlier day in Grand Rapids; there is a very real sense of family nostalgia for Israels.
“My father worked in this showroom with my grandfather setting up displays for the different markets,” he said. “And we wanted to maintain the John Widdicomb name in the community because it is such an integral part of the history of Grand Rapids.”
The new Israels campus on the former Widdicomb property is not the only project that the company will be undertaking in the months ahead. Israels’ retail locations are going to be expanded in 2005. The Israels’ 28th Street location and Israels’ Other Store will both be expanded in terms of physical property and lines of merchandise.
The Israels downtown Grand Rapids store will be the site of a new hotel that is being built by Alticor Corp. on Pearl Street. Before the wrecking balls start swinging, Israels said the company plans a final clearance sale in January 2005.
COPYRIGHT 2004. MIBIZ NETWORK.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
This article appeared in the [issue date] issue of MiBiz, read by upper management executives in West and Southwest Michigan. Print subscriptions are free to qualified individuals who do business in West and Southwest Michigan. For further information about MiBiz Network, visit www.mibiz.com. (A link to MiBiz's Web site is required).
PLEASE NOTE: Since MiBiz Network retains the copyright for the article, it must be published AS IS, with no revisions unless you receive permission from the publisher.
Monday, December 27, 2004 - MiBizWest
By Rod Kackley
MiBiz Network
GRAND RAPIDS — Grand Rapids has not seen anything like the John Widdicomb Trade Center since the early years of the 20th century when the West Michigan furniture industry drew designers, architects and furniture buyers from across the nation.
Israels Designs for Living General Manager David Israels believes the Widdicomb Trade Center will bring that kind of life back to Grand Rapids. During a sneak preview of the five-floor facility this month he told MiBiz, “We are establishing the John Widdicomb Trade Center as a completely new entity for Israels. It will be a to-the-trade design facility. We are looking for people in the design trade -architects, interior designers, furniture specifiers — they will be able to use the resources that will be available in this facility.”
The center will house three floors of furniture showrooms that will be available to those in the trade. Name brands such as Baker, Kindel, Ralph Lauren, Hekman, Hickory Chair, Harden, Century, EJ Victor, Pearson, Swaim, Woodland and Hickory White will be on display.
“There are other design centers throughout the country, but most of them are leased to different venders and factories and are a conglomeration of several individual showrooms. This is one of the few that I know of that is of this size — 75,000 square feet — and is actually owned by one party, ” said Israels
One floor of the Widdicomb Trade Center will be dedicated as the largest fabric showroom in West Michigan. It will include on-site support staff to assist with supplying memo fabric samples for designer use.
In addition to the staff in the fabric showroom, Israels said there would be a staff of account managers to serve the designers, whom he expects to come from across the nation.
“We will be bringing in designers who will be showcasing their products. They will be doing workshops and we will be organizing several events though the year that will attract people on an educational and social level as well as just for day-to-day business, “ he said.
Israels stated that the creation of the Trade Center came after exhaustive research that shows the design industry needs a facility like the one that is being built on the site of the former John Widdicomb furniture factory on the northwest side of Grand Rapids. And it seemed to make perfect sense, given the state of the industry itself.
“After looking at trends in the furniture industry over the last few years, we have seen that in higher-end furniture, over 35 percent of consumers are using the services of a professional interior designer,” Israels said. “We came to the conclusion a year ago to change the merchandise in our retail store to a more moderate priced, broader selection of lifestyle products, with the more design-oriented, higher-end products put into a separate facility.”
The John Widdicomb buildings were constructed when the Widdicomb sons returned home from the Civil War. Bob Israels began purchasing the property in 2001, beginning the process of environmental clean up and building restoration. Israels now owns four blocks of Widdicomb property. Not only does the Widdicomb Trade Center hearken back to an earlier day in Grand Rapids; there is a very real sense of family nostalgia for Israels.
“My father worked in this showroom with my grandfather setting up displays for the different markets,” he said. “And we wanted to maintain the John Widdicomb name in the community because it is such an integral part of the history of Grand Rapids.”
The new Israels campus on the former Widdicomb property is not the only project that the company will be undertaking in the months ahead. Israels’ retail locations are going to be expanded in 2005. The Israels’ 28th Street location and Israels’ Other Store will both be expanded in terms of physical property and lines of merchandise.
The Israels downtown Grand Rapids store will be the site of a new hotel that is being built by Alticor Corp. on Pearl Street. Before the wrecking balls start swinging, Israels said the company plans a final clearance sale in January 2005.
COPYRIGHT 2004. MIBIZ NETWORK.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
This article appeared in the [issue date] issue of MiBiz, read by upper management executives in West and Southwest Michigan. Print subscriptions are free to qualified individuals who do business in West and Southwest Michigan. For further information about MiBiz Network, visit www.mibiz.com. (A link to MiBiz's Web site is required).
PLEASE NOTE: Since MiBiz Network retains the copyright for the article, it must be published AS IS, with no revisions unless you receive permission from the publisher.
