Columbia Flooring has entered an agreement to sell its Thomasville, N.C., laminate manufacturing facility to Unilin Industries NV of Belgium. The transaction is expected to close during the third quarter of this year.

At the same time, Columbia and Unilin will begin a long-term supply agreement whereby Unilin will manufacture Columbia's existing glued and glueless laminate product offerings and also develop an exclusive Columbia Clic collection for launch at Surfaces 2002.

For its part, Unilin said it intends to develop a full "Made in America" manufacturing program for its Quick-Step and Uniclic laminate products. The company recently signed distribution agreements with Cole Wholesale Flooring of New Hope, Minn.; Wadesboro, N.C.-based CMH Flooring Products; Maryland Heights, Mo.-based DSI Distribution Services; NRF Distributors of Augusta, Me.; Tri-West of Santa Fe Springs, Calif.; Sea Pac Sales of Kent, Wash.; and San Francisco-based B.R. Funsten & Co.

In concert with these developments, Columbia has relocated its headquarters to Danville, Va., the home of its engineered flooring manufacturing plant. The company said it will soon begin conversion of an adjacent company-owned facility, approximately 80,000 square feet in size, to provide a central warehouse and a sales and administration facility for Columbia's entire line of hardwood and laminate products.