Tenant takes old Penloyd building

The former home of defunct cabinet-maker Penloyd has a new tenant, ResourceOne Corp., which will bring more than 400 employees as it consolidates its Tulsa area operations.

The growing publishing and marketing firm plans to combine three offices in the 350,000-square-foot building that has sat unoccupied for nearly a year near Apache Street and Harvard Avenue.

“A lot of companies have struggled and gone out of business, and we’ve been fortunate to pick up some of their work,” said Jim Moore, president of ResourceOne parent company Moore Holdings. “This is an opportunity for us to get under one roof and have a great facility to work from.”

ResourceOne could move in as early as April, Moore said. The company currently operates at two sites in Tulsa and one in Claremore.

The Penloyd/OFC facility has been vacant since the company abruptly shut its doors and laid off 187 people last January.

The 80-year-old outfit, once known as Oklahoma Fixture Co., made shelving for retailers such as Dillard’s Inc. and Eddie Bauer Inc. As late as 2006, Penloyd employed 500 people at the north Tulsa site, but declines in retail spending led to less work.

ResourceOne works with direct marketing firms to publish marketing materials, warehouse goods and handle calls. The company employs a variety of people such as graphic designers, warehouse workers, call center employees and press operators.

Moore said that as he and ResourceOne officials searched for a new site, the unoccupied Penloyd building stood out because of its size and capabilities. The facility needs only minor work to become the company’s new corporate headquarters, he said.

“It’s close to the airport, and that will be great for bringing clients in,” Moore said. “This is definitely somewhere we can grow.”

Moore said he doesn’t have any immediate plans to add workers, but the company could expand its work force by 20 percent in the coming years as it lands more business.

In its publishing unit, ResourceOne will be adding business after Moore Holdings purchased Baltimore-based Barton-Cotton, another marketing firm that contracts to send greeting cards for organizations such as the Smithsonian Institution and National Geographic Society.

Purchased by Moore last April, Barton-Cotton sent out about 200 million holiday cards in 2009, and Moore said some of that printing work will be coming to Tulsa. Barton-Cotton has about 80 employees.

Moore Holdings also owns a software firm in Colorado called Barnard Data Solutions, with about 15 employees.