A locally based trucking giant will take over the former offices of a tobacco company.
Estes Express Lines just bought the 83,000-square-foot former headquarters of the Universal Corporation at 1501 Hamilton St. The purchase price: $2.3 million.
Angela Maidment, vice president of corporate real estate for Estes, said the company would use the building for additional office space.
“Due to our continued growth, it gave us the opportunity to provide some space for some new divisions and also have some space to grow into for existing groups,” Maidment said.
Estes, which operates 212 trucking terminals across the country, has its main headquarters a couple of blocks away at 3901 W. Broad St. The company has 13,412 employees nationwide.
Maidment said Estes plans to gradually occupy the building as needed.
“We will begin some renovations over the next few weeks and anticipate moving some people in there in the next few months,” Maidment said.
Universal Corporation left the Hamilton Street building, which it had occupied for 40 years, for smaller space near Forest Hill and Huguenot avenues in 2009.
“We knew it had come onto the market and talked to Universal at the time when they first relocated, but it didn’t meet our criteria then,” Maidment said.
A deal for a developer to buy the property and turn it into apartments fell through last year.
David Gammino of City & Guilds had a contract to buy the property for an undisclosed price and planned a $9 million renovation to turn the building into 88 apartment units. But Gammino’s plan depended on the property being designated historic in order to obtain rehabilitation tax credits. Gammino said he was unable to obtain the designation, and the project was dropped.
The building was built in 1946.
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A locally based trucking giant will take over the former offices of a tobacco company.
Estes Express Lines just bought the 83,000-square-foot former headquarters of the Universal Corporation at 1501 Hamilton St. The purchase price: $2.3 million.
Angela Maidment, vice president of corporate real estate for Estes, said the company would use the building for additional office space.
“Due to our continued growth, it gave us the opportunity to provide some space for some new divisions and also have some space to grow into for existing groups,” Maidment said.
Estes, which operates 212 trucking terminals across the country, has its main headquarters a couple of blocks away at 3901 W. Broad St. The company has 13,412 employees nationwide.
Maidment said Estes plans to gradually occupy the building as needed.
“We will begin some renovations over the next few weeks and anticipate moving some people in there in the next few months,” Maidment said.
Universal Corporation left the Hamilton Street building, which it had occupied for 40 years, for smaller space near Forest Hill and Huguenot avenues in 2009.
“We knew it had come onto the market and talked to Universal at the time when they first relocated, but it didn’t meet our criteria then,” Maidment said.
A deal for a developer to buy the property and turn it into apartments fell through last year.
David Gammino of City & Guilds had a contract to buy the property for an undisclosed price and planned a $9 million renovation to turn the building into 88 apartment units. But Gammino’s plan depended on the property being designated historic in order to obtain rehabilitation tax credits. Gammino said he was unable to obtain the designation, and the project was dropped.
The building was built in 1946.
View Larger Map