Zondervan plans to keep its headquarters in Grand Rapids, Mich., although its former warehouse and distribution center was purchased recently.

HarperCollins Christian Publishing Director of Corporate Communications Casey Harrell told Christian Retailing that she could not comment about plans the new owners, Ilinois-based Franklin Partners, has for the building.

"The Zondervan headquarters is still in Grand Rapids, and we have all intentions to keep it there past January 2014," said Casey Harrell, the company's director of corporate communications. "No final decision has been made on the new location of the building. ... Our current lease in the Patterson Drive location in Grand Rapids does not expire until January 2014."

The 395,000-square-foot office and distribution center once used by Zondervan will be divided into two segments—a 200,000-square-foot industrial building and a 100,000-square-foot office building, according to Franklin Partners, The Grand Rapids Press reported.

Zondervan, Thomas Nelson's sister company under the umbrella of HarperCollins Christian Publishing, vacated the warehouse and distribution center, laying off its 75 employees last summer, the newspaper reported.

Zondervan announced that it would move out of the office building it shared with Family Christian Stores when it closed the warehouse and distribution center last summer. However, Zondervan officials later announced that they had signed a 16-month lease extension while they sought a new home for the company's 250 employees, the Press reported.

Duke Suwyn, president of Colliers International, the commercial real estate firm that represents Franklin Partners, said Family Christian plans to remain in the building, but Zondervan's status as a tenant remains "indefinite," the newspaper reported. Zondervan moved into the office and warehouse building in 1992.

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