Florida's Chico's Buying Former Duck Head Plant

WINDER, GA-Chico’s FAS Inc., a 304-store women’s clothing chain based in Fort Myers, FL, is buying the vacant 50-acre, 200,000-sf former Duck Head Apparel Co. Inc. headquarters and distribution center here from Tampa, FL-based Tropical Sportswear International Corp. for $7.2 million or $36 per sf. Closing is set for early April. Winder is 35 miles northeast of Downtown Atlanta.

Area construction industry estimators tell GlobeSt.com on condition of anonymity the selling price is below the replacement cost of the factory which also has 36,000 sf of office. Industry estimators say a similar structure today would cost at least $50 per sf or about $10 million to build.

Tropical Sportswear, in business since 1927 when it was called Tropical Garment Manufacturing Co., plans to use the sale proceeds to reduce corporate debt, according to the company’s prepared statement. Tropical bought the Duck Head business in August 2001 from Delta Woodside Industries for $16 million. Delta Woodside had owned Duck Head since 1989.