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BYRON CENTER — Lumbermen’s Inc., a 100-percent employee-owned building materials distributor headquartered in Grand Rapids, completed the purchase of a 198,000 square ft. industrial zoned building on 20 acres at 8715 Byron Commerce Dr. in Byron Center.

“The building is in a newer industrial park with close proximity to the US-131 and M-6 expressways, which makes it an ideal location to service our markets in West Michigan,” Roger VanderHeide said in a statement to MiBiz.

The move will enable the company to consolidate its warehousing and logistics functions into one location from four, as well as gain new efficiencies. Two call centers will also be relocated to Byron Center, as will some of the company’s manufacturing operations.

“The company is looking to make its operations much more efficient operating out of this larger location. Acquiring a commercial building in the current favorable market conditions for real estate buyers gave us the opportunity to lock in our warehousing costs at historically low rates,” VanderHeide stated.

Approximately 60 employees will be moving to the new location and more will be added as the economy improves, he added. The company also plans an addition to the facility to move its door operations to the site. A timeline for that move has not been established, he said. The property could fit another 165,000 square feet of buildings.

The company will immediately begin moving these operations into the new location and hopes to complete the move by spring 2012. Lumbermen’s corporate headquarters will remain in Grand Rapids.

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