LOXLEY --- Officials in Loxley are counting on a State Constitutional amendment in Baldwin County to help bring a major furniture company’s distribution center to the town’s Industrial Park.

Officials with Turner Furniture Co. Inc., a subsidiary of the national furniture chain Ashley Furniture Industries Inc., approached the Loxley Town Council meeting Monday proposing to use a Constitutional amendment which would allow them to split tax revenues with the town.

The agreement, which has to be advertised in a local newspaper for seven days, will come up for approval at a special meeting at 6 p.m. Monday, April 23. The town council has also rescheduled its monthly work session, which is normally scheduled for the last Monday of the month, to April 23.

If approved, the company plans to consolidate two distribution centers, one in Mississippi and one in Pensacola, Fla., using the former Key Port Building, located in the Loxley Industrial Park off County Road 49 and U.S. Highway 90.

Ashley officials said leases on local facilities run out at the end of this month and plans are to move beginning in May. Facilities are available in Mobile and Pensacola, but the central location, in addition to the Constitutional amendment, which applies only to Baldwin County, makes Loxley an ideal spot for the distribution center.

The move would initially bring 26 jobs to the Loxley facility, which could grow to as many as 30 over the next five years, officials said.

Founded in Chicago in 1945, Ashley Furniture HomeStore is now based out of Wisconsin and boasts 400 stores across the United States, Canada, Mexico, Central America and Japan with distribution centers in Wisconsin, Mississippi, California, Pennsylvania, Florida, China and Vietnam.

Ashley officials said while Home centers feature display models, when furniture is purchased from a Home center, the furniture is typically shipped from a distribution center. By law, furniture shipped from a distribution center is subject to the taxes of state and local governments where the distribution center is located.

Ashley officials also presented figures to the Loxley Town Council, projecting payroll of $440,000, which could grow to $740,000 over the next five years; sales projected at $9 million the first year, growing to an estimated $14 million, which would bring tax revenues of $181,000, five-year growth projections to $277,000, for the town.

The move would cost an estimated $700,000 to $800,000 for the company, officials said.

Shawn Alves, with Stone, Grenade and Crosby, who serves as the legal consultant for the town, said he had looked over the law and the proposed contract with Ashley Furniture and could see no problems with it.

“I see this as a win-win for the town,” Alves said. “There doesn’t seem to be a down side to this.”

When asked by Mayor Billy Middleton, Ashley Furniture officials said similar agreements in other areas had proved successful.

If approved, the town would enter into a five-year contract with the business, splitting tax revenues 50-50, with an option to renew for another five-year lease with a 60-40 split.

In other business Monday, the council:

• Approved the transfer of ABC license for off premise retail beer and table wine sales for the Chevron Station at 12601 N. Hickory St. (Highway 59 at Interstate 10) in Loxley which has new ownership.
• Signed a proclamation supporting the declaration of April as Child Abuse Prevention Month.