Donny Wall, Tommy Wall and Tom Wall (from left) have announced plans to develop the Warren Business Park at the intersection of Ind.-5 and I-69 near Warren. The Walls’ business, T.D. Wall Inc., will be the business park’s first tenant. Photo by Cindy Klepper.
Development of the Warren Business Park is set to begin this spring following the purchase of the property by a Huntington-based company.
T.D. Wall Inc. plans to relocate its showroom and service area, currently located on CR 200N, to the property just north of Warren. That business will occupy one of three smaller lots in the 44.5-acre business park.
Tom Wall, president of T.D. Wall, says the company plans to sell the other two smaller lots, as well as a 25-acre parcel that can be subdivided or sold intact, to other businesses or perhaps a manufacturing facility.
"We want to see that interchange grow," Wall says.
Julia Glessner, president of the Warren Town Council, says she is pleased with T.D. Wall's purchase of the property and the development plans.
"It's been quite a few years" since the council targeted that area as a site for business development, Glessner says.
The land was first designated for business development in the mid-1990s.
"We're looking forward to getting it going and working with them," Glessner says.
The town will run water and sewer lines to the property, she says, and is currently investigating funding options for that project.
Wall says his company had been looking for property - preferably in Huntington County - when the late Bill Cartwright, then president of the Warren Town Council, set up a meeting between Wall and the owner of the parcel at Ind.-5 and I-69. The two met over pie at a nearby restaurant and discussed the possibility of a deal.
"I only wanted 10 acres," Wall says. "But before the pie was done, I had bought the whole acreage from him."
The move to the Warren Business Park, located on the northeast corner of Ind.-5 and I-69, will give the family-owned business exposure to the thousands of cars that travel the interstate each day, T.D. Wall Vice President Donny Wall says. It's also a more central location.
"It's the crossroads of Indiana," Donny Wall says. "We're dealing with Maine, California, Florida, Michigan, Texas and now Canada."
T.D. Wall specializes in customized livestock haulers - trailers that are 40 to 50 feet long and house not only stalls for horses, pigs, cows and other livestock, but also luxury living quarters for the animals' owners.
The living quarters are added by a company based in Bristol, and the trailers come to T.D. Wall for custom touches such as audio and video systems and special lighting.
"We really shine in the customized trailer business," says Tommy Wall, Tom Wall's son and the third generation to be a part of the business. Tommy Wall is in charge of sales as well as the sales and maintenance staff.
"We're not an off-the-rack type dealer," Donny Wall adds.
The trailers don't come cheap - a horse trailer sold to a customer in Canada ended up costing about $150,000.
Buyers of these customized trailers are mainly owners of show animals who travel a competition circuit.
"They have a huge investment in that animal," Tom Wall says, noting that show animals can be valued as high as $25,000 to $30,000. Customization of the trailers often includes the installation of a camera that lets the owner keep an eye on the animal while driving down the highway.
And while the living quarters may look elaborate, Donny Wall notes, the just-like-home atmosphere is important to people who spend large amounts of time on the road and still need to be in shape to compete.
"I had one guy tell me, ‘If my family doesn't have its game on, it shows in the arena,'" he says.
The company's new facility in the Warren Business Park will house the livestock trailer sales, snowplow sales and mobile home and recreational vehicle parts sales, as well as all service and repair functions now headquartered in Huntington.
The building on CR 200N, constructed 10 years ago, is currently for sale.
Development plans at the business park call for extending CR 721S (just north of McDonald's) through the property to CR 700S. The property south of the new road will be divided into three lots, all bordering I-69, with one of the three lots occupied by T.D. Wall.
"Our goal is to build a 20,000-square-foot facility there," Tom Wall says. "We want this to be a showpiece for Huntington County."
T.D. Wall opened a dealership in Defiance, OH, last year and takes its products to 44 trade shows, from Iowa to Georgia, each year.
