Plumbing, heating supplier plans distribution from Reno

Don Hafer has long experience in the logistics business, and there simply wasn't any question in his mind where Viega North America would locate a distribution center to serve the West Coast.

Hafer, chief financial officer of the plumbing and heating manufacturer, says some customers in California wanted Viega to locate nearby.

"But at the end of the day, there are a whole bunch of good reasons to cross the border and locate at Reno," he says.

Viega last week said it's signed a long-term lease with Reno's DP Partners on 135,000 square feet in an industrial building at 12040 Moya Blvd. near the Red Rock interchange on U.S. 395.

The facility is expected to employ about 15 people when it opens in late spring or early summer, Hafer said. But that number might increase, he said, as Viega has positioned itself for continued expansion of its Reno operation.

Viega began scouting West Coast distribution locations, Hafer said, to speed delivery times to its customers in the region. The company currently distributes from facilities at Merrimack, N.H., and McPherson, Kan.

Viega sells more than 12,000 products to contractors in the plumbing, radiant heating and snow-melting installation business.

Based at Wichita, Kan., Viega North America is a U.S. subsidiary of a German company, Viega GmbH & Co., KG, with operations in 70 countries.

The space the company leased from DP Partners is more than half of the 255,000-square-foot building in the 287-acre Silver Lake Business Center. Other tenants of the center include General Motors, Michelin, DuPont, Hidden Valley Ranch and the Barnes Group.

Mike McCabe, vice president of leasing in Reno for DP Partners, said the company plans more industrial projects at Silver Lake as well as its nearby Sage Point Business Park to meet continued demand.