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NEWS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE
RELEASE
February 15,
2002
COMPANY CONTACT:
Mark Geiger
Acuity
Specialty Products Group,
Inc.
404.603.7979
ATLANTA, GA (February 18, 2002) - Acuity
Specialty Products Group, Inc., a subsidiary of
Acuity Brands (NYSE: AYI), today announced a
multi-year-lease agreement with developer
Panattoni Development Co. The agreement on
Panattoni's 408,600 square-foot warehouse located
in the Fulton Industrial Park area marked Acuity
Specialty Products' latest move outlined in its
expansion plan.
"Creating a low-cost quality-focused operations
platform for Acuity Specialty Products is one of
our most important strategic initiatives," said
Jim Heagle, President of Acuity Specialty
Products. "I'm very excited about the addition of
this new world class distribution center," said
Heagle. "It will allow us to combine all of our
Atlanta based distribution operations into one
state of the art distribution center. This center
will improve our efforts to better support our
field sales organization. The efficiencies we will
gain in shortening lead times and providing better
service to our customers will benefit our sales
efforts for years to come," he said. "In addition,
this facility is planned to accommodate our future
growth over the next decade," concluded
Heagle.
"We couldn't be more pleased to be associated
with established Atlanta-based businesses with the
reputation that the Acuity Specialty Products'
business units have," said Panattoni partner Mike
Demperio. "We're looking forward to a long
mutually-beneficial relationship."
Acuity Specialty Products owns 10 buildings
totaling more than 600,000 square-feet of office,
manufacturing and warehouse space on Seaboard
Industrial Boulevard. Zep Manufacturing, Acuity
Specialty Products' largest business unit, opened
for business in 1937 and broke ground at the
Seaboard location June 1956.
According to Richard Manning, Acuity Specialty
Products COO, Zep's growth and congested
facilities were the main drivers behind the
decision to open the distribution outlet. The new
Atlanta Distribution Center is slated to be
operational later in the spring of 2002, "We began
to lay in place a process to enhance our
distribution operations last year with the opening
of our new Corona, CA distribution center," said
Manning. "The Atlanta facility will become our
corner stone for further enhancements to our
distribution network in coming years and will
support Zep, Selig, National Chemical and
Enforcer," Manning added.
Atlanta Distribution Center
Facts:
· The perimeter of the
building is one mile long and is located on 33.21
acres.
· The distribution center is as wide as a
football field and ¼ mile long.
· It has 408,600 square feet of floor space.
(Approximately 10 acres)
· 72 dock doors provide shipping access to the
building.
Acuity Brands, Inc., whose
businesses had 2001 sales of approximately $2.0
billion, is comprised of the Acuity Lighting Group
and Acuity Specialty Products. The Acuity Lighting
Group is the world's largest lighting fixture
manufacturer and includes brands such as
Lithonia®, Holophane®, Peerless®, and Hydrel®.
Acuity Specialty Products is a leading
provider of specialty chemicals and includes
brands such as Zep®, Enforcer®, and
SeligTM.
Headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia,
Acuity Brands employs 11,800 people and has
operations throughout North America and in
Europe.
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