The Forney Fence Supply company held their grand opening and ribbon cutting ceremony on Friday morning, August 16, 2013, at their newly renovated facility on Highway 80.
The name may sound familiar - that's because Forney Fence Company has been in Forney since January of 2005. Forney Fence Company was previously located on FM 1641 near Country Smokehouse.
Their new building belonged to Philbeck's Texas Pine Furniture. After a fire destroyed buildings at the front of the property in 2009, the back buildings served as storage until Forney Fence Supply bought the building and began the renovations earlier this year.
Forney Fence Supply specializes in iron fence panelings manufactured in Vietnam, as compared to most of their competitors who use panels manufactured in China and Mexico. Locally, the Forney warehouse serves as a walk-in retail center and distribution hub for the wholesale customers. Globally, Forney Fence Supply directly ships products to their customers straight from Vietnam.
Forney Fence Supply also sells patented T-Rex Cages. The cages protect A/C units from theft, weather, and vandalism. In a down economy, thieves will often steal the copper and other valuable metals from unprotected A/C units.
Forney Fence Company Operations Manager Billy Lansdale said, “We started selling fence panels out of the back of my truck in 2005. Now we have nine employees and what you see here. We sell to a lot of fence guys and Lowes carries some of our products.”
The interior of the building is 20,000 square feet with 2,500 sq feet designated as office and sales space. An additional 10,000 square feet was also renovated next door that owner Rex Ramsey is looking to lease.
Forney Fence Supply also signed a four-and-a-half year performance agreement with the Forney Economic Development Corporation (FEDC) for the redevelopment and reconstruction of the old Philbeck's building. The agreement sets performance conditions such as minimum employment levels, tax reporting requirements, renovation of the building, and open retail space.
According to the agreement, the FEDC will reimburse Forney Fence Supply one-half of their Type B Sales and Use Tax Revenue each year until 2018. Forney Fence Supply will still be responsible for paying all ad valorem taxes on the property.