Plastic sheet distributor A&C Plastics Inc. is expanding its headquarters in Houston by an additional 112,000 square feet.
Construction is expected to start later this month, with a groundbreaking ceremony scheduled for Jan. 22 at the 10-acre Houston campus. The project is slated for completion in the first quarter of 2021.
The expansion includes the addition of a 35,000-square-foot, two-story office building and a 77,000-square-foot warehouse.
Additional plans for the Houston site encompass several facility upgrades and improvements, including huddle rooms for employees, an expanded kitchen, a full gym with locker rooms, a training auditorium and a board room.
It also includes a separate space for A&C Plastics founder and CEO Carolyn Faulk's nonprofit organization, the Faulk Foundation. The charity provides aid to families and individuals in need.
"At our new building, we're trying to really modernize everything," Marshall McQuien, director of business development at A&C Plastics, said in a phone interview with Plastics News.
Design-forward details using the company's plastic sheet where applicable is one part of that effort, he added. The company's plastic will be used for office partitions, tables, countertops and in the entrance walkway, among other possible applications.
"Everywhere we can have plastic material, we're going to have it out there on display to show people all the different things you can do with plastic and the versatility it offers," he explained.
McQuien declined to provide a specific dollar-and-cents figure but said the company is investing "quite a bit" on the project. He said continued year-over-year growth at A&C Plastics is a main driver behind the expansion.
A&C Plastics employs 50 at the Houston campus. As a result of the expansion plans, the company plans to hire an additional 18 workers in sales, warehousing, marketing and other operations, he said.
The company has two additional facilities that are used for warehousing, shipping and delivery: one in Schiller Park, Ill., and the other in Colorado Springs, Colo. A&C employs about 60 people in total.
Across all three locations, it stocks more than 3,000 types of plastic products — ranging from expanded PVC sheet to specialty sheets such as abrasion-resistant acrylic and anti-static polycarbonate — and maintains a $5 million inventory, the company said.
"We're a very value-driven company. … That's one thing that really makes us unique," McQuien said. "We're happy to partner with people with [similar] values and so, because of that, I think that's one of the things that has helped us drive growth."
