Pace Industries puts Fayetteville HQ up for sale; company plans to ‘rightsize’ market presence

Pace Industries, an aluminum, zinc and magnesium die casting company based in Fayetteville, is selling its 22,200-square-foot office building at 481 Shiloh Drive along Interstate 49.

According to an online real estate listing, CBRE is marketing the 6.3-acre property for $3.95 million.

The Northwest Arkansas Business Journal reported in November that Pace Industries was planning to relocate its corporate headquarters from Northwest Arkansas to suburban Detroit, where it maintains a sales and engineering office. The company has not officially announced that move.

A Pace Industries spokeswoman provided the following statement to the Business Journal in May:

“Pace Industries remains committed to our presence in Fayetteville, Arkansas. We are currently working to rightsize our office space as we establish our new Shared Services Center, evaluating new locations within the greater Fayetteville area. The intent of our process is to be operating in the new office location by the end of the calendar year.”

The company employed about 70 people at its corporate office in Fayetteville according to the 2020 Arkansas Manufacturers Register.

Pace Industries, a privately held company and major supplier to the auto industry, emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in June 2020 after completing a financial restructuring plan. Citing the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the company filed a voluntary petition for relief on April 13, under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code. The company proposed a prepackaged plan that would restructure approximately $324 million in debt, primarily through a debt-for-equity swap.

Also in June, the company announced the appointment of Donnie Hampton as CEO. Scott Bull, who had been CEO for the past 12 years and an employee for more than 40 years, was expected to remain with the company in an advisory role.

Hampton most recently worked in Michigan for the North American division of Faurecia, a French auto supplier.

Pace Industries has nine die casting manufacturing plants in the United States and Mexico, two tool and die shops, two painting and finishing shops, and more than 2,500 employees, according to court documents filed in April 2020. The pandemic led the company to temporarily lay off about 70% of its employees and close four of its divisions. In 2019, revenue was $560 million, and about one-third of that could be attributed to the automotive industry, the documents show.

Pace Industries was founded in Harrison in 1970.