Ground–Up Retail Construction and Interior Renovations

Of the seven Wickes Furniture stores built throughout California and Illinois, five were new ground–up construction and two were interior renovations. The three projects in California were in Corona, Oxnard and Santa Clarita, while the four Illinois projects were in Batavia, Chicago, Lake Zurich and Schaumburg. Although there were seven projects, many players were involved. There were two different owners (Hamilton Partners and Wickes), four owners’ representatives, six developers, three architects and six title companies. In addition, some of the projects were one-story facilities, some two-story and others interior build-outs. Project schedules for most of the stores ranged on average from four to six months with square footage ranging from 36,000 to 60,000. The Batavia, Santa Clarita and Schaumburg stores recently reached completion. The Corona and Lake Zurich facilities finished in February 2007, while the Chicago and Oxnard stores were completed in spring 2007.