Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, May 30, 1995 TAG: 9505310021
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B-6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: GREG EDWARDS STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Construction workers and company employees were busy Friday getting the new building ready for the opening - painting, hanging wallpaper, moving in office equipment.
The warehouse at the company's former location on Shenandoah Avenue burned July 15, destroying more than $3 million of company inventory and many customer records. Since the fire, the company has worked to recover, operating from three different locations and seeing a trend of yearly sales growth level off at its current $16 million.
"The month before the fire, we had the biggest month since we had been in business," company president Wayne Cook said. He is looking forward to getting back on a growth track.
The company was founded in 1978 by Cook, Steve Chisholm and Conrad Massey, three former employees of the Noland Co., a Newport News-based supplier. Chisholm, company secretary-treasurer, operates CMC's Roanoke operation with Cook. Massey, company vice president, oversees the CMC location in Macon, Ga.
Plumbing fixtures, including spas, account for 35 percent of the company's business; water-well and treatment equipment make up another 35 percent. Heating, air conditioning and culvert equipment account for the remainder.
The company has 45 employees, including a staff of eight sales people who call on wholesale customers in Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, North Carolina, Tennessee and Kentucky. It also operates a retail showroom where it displays products with brand names such as Jacuzzi, American Standard and Weather King.
Despite the financial loss and the hardship, there was no question about coming back after the fire, because of the company's employees, Chisholm said.
The new building holds 10,500 square feet of office and showroom space and 45,000 square feet of warehouse space. It was designed by architect Ron Martin of Martin and Associates of Roanoke, built by Avis Construction Co. of Roanoke and financed by Central Fidelity Bank.
The entire project will cost more than $1.5 million, including the price of the land, Cook said.
At its new location, CMC has twice the warehouse space, twice the showroom space and twice the yard storage space that it had previously, Chisholm said. It's also easier to get to than the old location, Cook said.
The company rented the old building, which faced Shenandoah Avenue. The new building sits across Johnson Avenue from the back of the old one.
The new building and its adjacent storage yard, which is paved and already filled with water pipe and other products, occupy five acres on the site of the former Roanoke LIvestock Yard, which was destroyed by fire a few years ago.
CMC plans a grand opening for its customers June 10. Fifty manufacturers' representatives should be on hand for the event, and the company's retail showroom, which is not complete, should be open, Cook said.
by CNB