Boyle Uses Speed To Please Customer

That’s how Gary Banks, director or Real Estate for SLS, Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sears Roebuck and Company, described the recent predicament his company faced.

“We had an emergency space requirement in Memphis,” Banks explained. “We needed to occupy some warehouse space in one day. We inquired about some properties owned by other companies, but the space just wasn’t available in the time we needed it. Working with Boyle, we were able to turn around the deal in 24 hours. That’s highly unusual to say the least.”

In charge of the “highly unusual” deal was Joel Fulmer, vice president of commercial and industrial real estate for Boyle.

“I got a phone call one afternoon from Gary, who said that he needed 107,000 square feet of space by the next day,” said Fulmer. “In that short time, we negotiated the lease and delivered the space in our Winchester Distribution Center. This quick turnaround was only possible because our owners (Bayard Boyle and Henry Morgan) were available and were ready to make some quick decision.”

Reacting quickly is nothing new to Boyle in its dealings with Sears and its subsidiaries. Boyle recently finished out more than 100,000 square feet of warehouse space of SLS, Inc. within 21 days of signing the lease. And a few years ago, Boyle constructed two 15,000-square-foot office buildings for another Sears subsidiary, Allstate, in less than six months.

“I think the that fact that we had an established relationship with Boyle made it easier for us to complete this deal in such a timely fashion,” said Banks. But according to Fulmer, that wasn’t a necessity. “We would try to accomplish this for anyone-we want to deliver service beyond what is usually expected.”