By CARA SPAZIANI / Journal Staff Writer
J. Tanon, left, and Loren Hancock load four truckloads of wood

pallets and miscellaneous debris out of the Interwoven Mill on Wednesday afternoon. (Journal photo by Ron Agnir)

MARTINSBURG — A Hagerstown furniture store will occupy what was once the largest sock manufacturing facility in the world after renovations are complete at the former Interwoven Mills complex.

Laber’s Office Furniture, a retailer that specializes in new and used discounted office furnishings, has already acquired a loyal customer base in the Martinsburg area, store officials said Wednesday.

“I think it’s a good opportunity,” said Mark Raidt, the general manager of the furniture store. “It’s worked here for 30 some odd years. The business is doing really well in Hagerstown.”

The 450,000 square-feet Knitting Machine Co./Interwoven Mill complex was purchased Nov. 20 by Ridgecrest Investments, a Frederick-based investment firm that specializes in acquiring abandoned and underused downtown commercial and industrial complexes and restoring them for use as retail or office suites or for mixed-use projects.

The site has been owned since 1999 by Biltrite Homes Corp., which is owned by Hagerstown businessman Vincent Groh.

Groh purchased the complex, which sits along West John Street and Porter Avenue, for $1.7 million six years ago.

Frankie Corsi, the chief financial officer for Ridgecrest Investments, declined to comment on the amount the company paid for the site. Groh did not return phone calls as of presstime.

In 2004, Ridgecrest Investments purchased Laber’s Office Furniture, which is now located in a building the company also owns on East Baltimore Street in Hagerstown.

The furniture retailer was established in 1974 by Russell Laber and deals in furnishings from St. Timothy, Herman Miller and Lazy Boy.

Raidt said the store often purchases complete showrooms and offices and will then resell the items at a reduced price.

“It could be customer returns, scratched, dented or nicked in the warehouse,” Raidt said of the furniture the store sells.

Laber’s Office Furniture currently employs four people, and will need to hire two to three more when the store expands to Martinsburg.

Once established at its new location, the furniture retailer is anticipating merging into a home furnishing warehouse and is hoping to attract more business along Interstate 81, Corsi said.

“Our feeling is that if we are just a few minutes off the interstate, we can reach areas farther south,” Corsi said. “We feel the location is just fine for what we do.”

Through e-mail correspondence Monday, Corsi said the complete overhauling of the site may not be accomplished for a few years. The company has begun refurbishing one of the site’s buildings at the corner of Winchester Avenue and West John Street, Corsi said during a phone interview Wednesday.

“We’ve already started cleaning it out,” Corsi said. “We’ve taken about four or five truckloads to the dump. We’re moving pretty quickly.”

Corsi said he was uncertain when employees from Laber’s Office Furniture would be able to move into their new location.

Besides the furniture store, Corsi said the former Interwoven Mill site could include retail and office space, restaurants, a courtyard and residential loft apartments.

“That mixed-use environment, combined with the overall size of the property, will allow us to create a community within Martinsburg,” Corsi said through e-mail.

Ridgecrest Investments does not plan on hindering the operations of the site’s current tenants like Classic Chocolates, Craft Gallery Treasures and Panhandle Gifts & Floral Design.

“We’ll be treating the current tenants that are there as a typical tenant/landlord relationship,” Corsi said. “We’re happy to keep them there.”