Umicore USA, a maker of materials used in roofs, automobiles, chemicals and other products, has signed a lease for 15,000 square feet in the Highwoods Properties building at 3600 Glenwood Avenue.

Umicore has been leasing about 12,000 square feet in an older office building in the 150-acre Highwoods Office Park that is located just beyond the Beltline between Atlantic Avenue and Capital Boulevard.

That building was one of four that were foreclosed upon and taken back by the lender for $22 million in October.

The lender, Column Financial, the commercial real estate lending arm of investment bank Credit Suisse, then sold the properties to BlackRock Financial Management for $22 million in November, according to Wake County property records.

Umicore has had its U.S. headquarters in Raleigh since 1997. The company employs 44 employees and had outgrown its existing space, said President Richard Laird.

Umicore's parent company, Umicore Group, is based in Belgium.
 

UNC-Charlotte researchers have created a formula for recycling plastic bottles into building materials. The result, which resists water damage, may possibly outperform composite and wood lumber in many uses. Read more about it here.

Raleigh-based Stock Building Supply said today it has an agreement in place to buy the assets of Bison Building Holdings, a building supplier in the Houston area that filed for bankruptcy last year.

This is Stock's second acquisition in the last several months. In February, Stock said it had reached a "stalking horse" agreement to purchase the assets of an Arkansas building supply company that also filed for bankruptcy. That agreement means Stock has been chosen as the intial buyer for the company's assets.

Bison's focuses on the residential market. Stock, which itself went through bankruptcy last year, has been shedding assets in order to focus on the residential market.

Stock CEO Joe Appelmann said earlier this year that the company would be on the prowl for acquisition targets.

Stock is flush with cash thanks to a $75 million infusion from The Gores Group, the California private equity firm that owns a 51 percent stake in the company.