William Gilcrist, owner of Castle Rock Industries Inc., says he's in the process of selling that Spokane company's production facility, has let go most of its 27 employees, and has sold off the equipment it used to make wood components for other manufacturers.

Castle Rock at one time remanufactured about 2 million board feet of lumber a month for companies that make wooden trusses used in construction in the western U.S., but the timber industry has stalled out, Gilcrist says. Now, while the company will continue to serve a small number of ongoing contract customers, Gilcrist says he plans to concentrate his efforts on another venture he owns, a safety supply company called Western Glove Inc.

Gilcrist says he has leased 6,900 square feet of space at 1418 E. Trent, in Spokane, to house both Western Glove, which employs five people, and the remaining operations of Castle Rock.

Gilcrist says he has agreed to sell Castle Rock's former location, at 4520 N. Ferrall Road, for an undisclosed amount to Dan McDonald, owner of MRS Metal Roofing & Siding Supply Inc., of Mead, which plans to expand there. The property includes a 12,000-square-foot warehouse on an 80,000-square-foot parcel.

At the new location, three remaining Castle Rock employees still are doing work for a few customers, and the company has in inventory about 150,000 board feet of the lumber it had produced previously, Gilcrist says.

"I'm fortunate to be in a position where I'm not strapped" financially, Gilcrist says. Because of the changing timber industry, however, Gilcrist decided some time ago to move in a different direction, he says. Gilcrist acquired Western Glove about a year ago from a Chattaroy couple. That company distributes safety glasses, hearing protection, and a variety of gloves to about 650 wholesale and industrial customers in Eastern Washington and northern Oregon.

Gilcrist says he later might buy another property for Western Glove's operations and eventually might phase out Castle Rock altogether. For now, he's waiting to see if the timber industry will turn around, he says.

Castle Rock Industries had moved to its Ferrall Road location and had replaced all of its equipment after an arson fire destroyed its former West Central neighborhood facility in 2003.

Meanwhile, McDonald says he plans to expand MRS Metal Roofing & Siding Supply right away in the former Castle Rock building. MRS makes equipment that flattens and forms rolls of steel into panels used as steel siding, he says.

McDonald earlier had bought a vacant parcel adjacent to Castle Rock and still plans to build a 22,400-square-foot production facility on that land next spring to expand further MRS, which does business as MRS Metal Rollforming Systems. That company currently is located at 13906 N. Newport Highway, and McDonald says he plans to move the operation to the Ferrall location eventually and redevelop the Newport Highway property for some other commercial use.

MRS, which currently employs 30 people, expects to hire six additional employees by the end of this year as it expands into the former Castle Rock building.

Tracy Lucas and Mark Lucas, both of Kiemle & Hagood, of Spokane, are handling the sale of the Castle Rock property to McDonald, Gilcrist says.