Inside Indiana Furniture's Proposed Move to Jasper's South Side

Jasper - Indiana Furniture's 116-year occupancy of their Mill Street location will soon come to an end. A $17 million tax abatement from the City of Jasper will allow the local business to expand, and move operations, to its southside location.

Chief Executive Officer Max Verkamp says there is nothing wrong with the building itself, but furniture manufacturing has changed since the company's founding in 1905.

"Parts of the building are four stories, parts of the building are three stories," Verkamp said. "It's really not a building that is conducive to today's manufacturing."

In addition to some parts of the current building being unable to support the heavy machinery required for modern manufacturing, the proposed expansion will allow the company to maximize efficiency. Daily, several hours are spent transferring pieces from one story to another. Efficiency, Verkamp says, is a must with their growing seating segment.

"We're funning out of space because our seating operation, which is all done here at our Mill St. location, is our fastest growing segment," Verkamp said. "We also, with growing the business overall, need more warehouse space to ship out all of our finished goods and product.

According to Verkamp, the seating industry has changed rapidly in recent years - moving from traditional to collaborative - that includes lounge pieces and private pods.

Just because the business is moving on from the location does not mean that the facility will sit unoccupied, said Verkamp.

"Our intent is not to leave this vacant. Our intent is to keep the corporate office here until we find a buyer for this facility," Verkamp said. "At which point, we would identify and move into another facility in Jasper.

Indiana Furniture is hoping to finalize the abatement later this Summer. The company plans to use local contractors.