Wyckoff Industries to move to former Carlisle dealership
Employees at Deery Bros. Chevrolet Inc. will have barely driven the last vehicle out of the Carlisle showroom before another business moves in early next month.
Wyckoff Industries, a family-owned South Side heating and cooling company with roots in Carlisle, has leased the 18,000-square-foot dealership building at 95 Iowa Highway 5. Deery has begun moving this week to a new 40,000-square-foot building at Iowa Highway 163 and and 60th Street in Pleasant Hill.
The Carlisle City Council tonight is expected to approve a development agreement with Wyckoff and Deery Brothers that will provide tax incentives in exchange for improvements to the dealership property.
Wyckoff Industries plans to sell its 36,000-square-foot building and land at 1201 S.E. Diehl Ave. to its neighbor, Menard Inc. The retailer plans to demolish the building, which is located to its north, to accommodate a 24,000-foot expansion of its warehouse and outdoor lumberyard/garden center at 6000 S.E. 14th St. The sale is scheduled to close on Thursday.
“I think it’s a good deal for the South Side, a good deal for Menards and for the (residential) neighbors,” said Job Cooper, Wyckoff Industries’ co-owner.
Menards has agreed to have a larger retention pond constructed where Wyckoff’s building is now located, which is expected to better control stormwater runoff and prevent silt from running down Yeader Creek and into Easter Lake, Cooper said.
The recession has caused the heating and cooling company to scale back its operations significantly, including this move to a building that’s half its present location’s size, Cooper said.
“Work from new construction is down probably 60 percent from what it was in 2006,” he said. “That’s the reason we’re doing a lot more commercial work than in the past. We have nine technicians working now versus four to five, so we’re in that replacement market. (Commercial and replacement) is a much bigger piece of our business now.”
Wyckoff Industries was founded on the South Side in 1950 but relocated to Carlisle in 1960, and for years was located in a former supermarket at 60 School St. It moved to its present location in 1992. Cooper and his cousin, Andy Wyckoff, bought the company last year.
Because of the recession, the company has downsized from about 110 employees two years ago to 65 currently, Cooper said. The nature of the business has also changed such that less showroom space is needed to hold or display inventory, he said.
“It was a good business move for us, and Deery made us a heck of a deal,” Cooper said. “We’re leasing with an option to buy. We’ll get through this economic stress and then maybe be able to start growing again.”