Baer Supply Center

A Positive Development in East Providence

East Providence, RI: A group of city and state officials, the Chamber of Commerce, and area businesspeople recently attended the groundbreaking of a new 100,000 square foot distribution center for Baer Supply Company on New Road in East Providence. Attendees included: East Providence Mayor Joseph S. Larisa, Jr.; Interim Director of the RI Economic Development Commission Michael Saul; City Manager Richard Brown; Baer Supply Company President Scott Zettik; and Laura McNamara, Executive Director of the East Providence Area Chamber of Commerce.
Adele Beck, President of ACB Realty and developer of the project, sponsored the groundbreaking event.

Baer Supply Company is one of the nation's leading specialty wholesale distributors to the woodworking industry. They offer an extensive inventory of decorative and functional hardware and fittings, tools, shop supplies, surfacing materials, and board and panel products.

The company, acquired by Wurth Group of German in 1997, is a multi-national distributor of fasteners, fittings and a wide variety of industrial products and is the world’s largest fastener distribution. They have over 300 member companies in 80 countries on five continents. Baer Supply Company will be consolidating their New England distribution centers and chose East Providence over major areas, including Albany, New York.

The East Providence site is approximately seven acres and will be located on the former Fram Factory property. The development plan proposes the construction of a new 100,000 square foot building housing 90,000 s.f. of warehouse and 10,000 s.f. of office space with associated parking areas. The project will be constructed in one phase and will be served by a new rail spur by Providence & Worcester Rail Road. It is anticipated that this new facility will provide jobs for thirty employees.

The site to be developed is part of the East Providence Waterfront District and the project had to go through the mandatory review and approval process of the East Providence Waterfront Commission. The project received the Commission’s approval in January of 2009 and excavation of the property was recently begun. Completion of the project is slated for summer of 2010. Ms. Beck noted that the expeditious and cooperative manner in which the City and the Waterfront Commission had handled the development approval made it possible for the project to move forward in difficult economic times.

Baer Supply Company was founded in 1950 by the late Herbert Baer and his late wife, Helma, who began the business in the living room of their one-bedroom apartment in the Uptown neighborhood of Chicago. In 1953, the "warehouse" was moved out of the apartment into a 2,000 square foot section in the rear of a customer's shop. In 1958, the Company was able to combine the office and warehouse operations in a larger facility in Skokie, Illinois. Following four subsequent facility moves during the next 24 years, Baer moved to its current 123,000 square foot state-of-the-art corporate office and distribution facility in Vernon Hills, Illinois in 1988. A combination of acquisitions and start-ups in the mid- and late-1990's resulted in significant geographic and product line expansion, combining Baer's national strength in hardware with the regional market strength, and board and panel product expertise, of acquired companies.

The Project: Baer Supply Center is located along the East Providence / Pawtucket City line and along the Providence & Worcester Railroad line, in the Pawtucket Ave. Sub-district. The site is approximately seven acres and will be located on the former Fram Factory property. The development plan proposes the construction of a new 100,000 square foot building housing 90,000 s.f. of warehouse and 10,000 s.f. of office, with associated parking areas. The project will be constructed in one phase and will be served by a new rail spur. The developers plan to make every effort to preserve existing vegetation throughout the Site, using existing vegetation as a buffer between the proposed development and the adjacent residential uses. The Applicant received Waterfront Commission approval in January of 2009: construction is underway.