Memphis Daily News reports that after 18 years, Gibson is selling its downtown Memphis company in search of a new, smaller home.
CBRE executive vice president Johnny Lamberson, who is handling the sale along with CBRE vice president Terry Radford, stated:
“It’s very difficult to accumulate this much land in a downtown market. In fact, I really haven’t seen a sale this large probably since (FedExForum) was put together.
“They are definitely going to stay in Memphis, but when this venue was built it had a large entertainment venue (that) hasn’t been utilized in a couple of years. And that’s approximately half of the building.”
The Memphis plant is one of Gibson‘s three production facilities, and also the only one open for tours.
It’s in charge of semi-hollow electric guitars production, which includes the Gibson ES line and custom instruments.
The company’s solid-body electric guitars are made in Nashville, while its acoustic guitars are produced in Bozeman, Montana.
The source further reports:
“Gibson’s Memphis and Nashville locations became a national flashpoint in 2011 when federal agents raided the factories and offices in both cities, seizing several pallets of wood, electronic files and guitars.
“The government alleged some of the wood Gibson imported to manufacture guitars violated the Lacey Act, a law that bans the import of environmentally threatened plants and animals.”
