Exotic flooring maker Dean Hardwoods Inc. (Wilmington, N.C.) has ceased operations.
"Regrettably, our lender, Sun Trust Bank, has effectively closed our operations," the company says in its voicemail greeting.
The five-generation family-owned company struggled financially in the wake of the housing bust, and it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in August 2008. In those bankruptcy documents, it listed total assets of $5.5 million and liabilities of $10.3 million. Sun Trust Bank was listed as a secured creditor, with Dean Hardwoods owing it $1.45 million against accounts receivable, inventory, furniture, fixtures and equipment totaling $4.7 million. In that same filing, Dean Hardwoods listed Waccamaw Bank as an unsecured lender for about $3.3 million. In June 2009 the company left bankruptcy with a renegotiated line of credit. On June 8, 2012, Waccamaw Bank failed.
According to a company history posted on its website, Dean Hardwoods traces its roots to 1905 when Richmond Dean invested in a veneer mill and lumberyard in Chicago, a company he later handed to his son Jack Dean. In its early days, it supplied exotic veneers for passenger railroad cars, and in 1940, Tom Dean, Jack's son, took leadership of the company. During World War II, the company supplied veneer for plywood used in building wood-hulled PT boats.
After the war, the company supplied veneer for furniture in light of the post-war housing boom. Next, the company became a reputable supplier of wood flooring and teak for boats. In 1980, Charles "Chuck" Dean took the company's reins from his uncle Tom, and in 2010, leadership was given to Matthew Dean, Chuck's son.
In the voicemail greeting, the company said the Dean family is working "diligently" at the next incarnation of the family's business: Dean Wood International.
Reached via email, Chuck Dean declined to provide more details on Dean Hardwoods' closing or Dean Wood International.
