A photo of damage sustained at Amwood Homes in Toledo by the derecho storm that shook central and eastern Iowa on Aug. 10, 2020. Amwood Homes announced they will be closing the facility in Toledo and relocating to Montezuma, Iowa.

Following significant structural damage sustained in last summer’s derecho storm, Amwood Homes, Inc. has announced it will be closing its manufacturing facility in Toledo.

“If it wasn’t for the storm we’d still be in Toledo,” Amwood Homes CEO Dave Hiller said. “It’s been a great 40-year run and we’re thankful to the community here.”

Hiller said the company applied temporary repairs to the damaged buildings last fall so they could continue operating in at least a partial capacity.

However, if the business was to continue longterm, Hiller said the entire facility would need to be reconstructed.

Rather than rebuild their facility in Toledo, Amwood Homes will be relocating their Iowa manufacturing operation to Montezuma where they have purchased the former A1 Fiberglass facility.

Hiller said the advantages of the Montezuma location was that it was a more affordable option that would be available sooner than if they rebuilt the damaged buildings in Toledo.

The company is currently at work retrofitting the manufacturing plant in Montezuma; largely a turnkey operation after it was purchased last month.

Amwood Homes employs 20 team members at the Toledo location, around 80% of which are set to continue with the company and commute to Montezuma.

Hiller said the company’s tentative plans are to phase in work at the Montezuma plant beginning in February in hopes of fully vacating the Toledo facility around April 1st.

Amwood Homes’ new location will be an upgrade in building size as the Montezuma facility should offer an increase of roughly 10,000 square feet compared to the current layout in Toledo.

“It wasn’t to do with expanding,” Hiller said. It was more like ‘Ok, we have two options. One option is to rebuild here in Toledo, which is going to take a long time and cost a lot of money. And the other option is to be roughly 30 miles away where we can utilize an empty facility than can be retrofitted in a very short amount of time.’ It was a decision made so that we can continue serving our customers.”

Amwood Homes is based out of Janesville, Wisc. and manufacturers components for prefabricated home builders at facilities in Toledo and Madison, Wisc.

The company first came to Toledo in 1981 when they purchased their manufacturing facility from ES Homes.

As Amwood Homes begins to transition out of Toledo, they have already sold the property to Kyle and Nichole Hrabak. The Hrabaks, who own and operate Hrabak Lumber just south of Amwood Homes in Toledo, said they plan to use the property for overflow storage and warehousing for their business.

Kyle Hrabak told the News Chronicle they hope to repair as many of the buildings as possible but that some demolition may be necessary.