North Heights Linen Service LLC announced Thursday afternoon, Feb. 19, that it sold its laundry facility to Ecotex Healthcare Linen Service, a Canadian-based, family-owned hospital linen provider with 13 locations across the United States and Canada.
Ecotex will retain the Amarillo facility’s current employees and assume service for regional healthcare providers, including BSA Health System and several rural hospitals.
The laundry facility was originally developed so Texas Panhandle hospitals would no longer need to ship medical linens to processing facilities in Oklahoma City or Albuquerque. Officials said the transition is expected to expand regional processing capacity while maintaining local hospital service relationships.
Ecotex operates healthcare-only linen plants across North America — including sites in Iowa, Nebraska, New Mexico and Oklahoma — and the Amarillo site is expected to serve as a regional hub supporting hospitals across West Texas and surrounding areas.
The North Heights project was initially supported through a location incentive agreement approved by the Amarillo City Council in 2021 following action by the Amarillo Economic Development Corporation board, with 2024 marking the first year of the performance period.
Under the agreement, the facility committed to creating 100 full-time jobs and maintaining an average of at least $1 million in new annual payroll. The operation currently employs about 60 workers and was designed to expand as additional hospital contracts were secured. In return, the AEDC authorized a $250,000 performance-based incentive tied to those benchmarks, along with an estimated $3 million in capital investment.
North Heights Linen Service opened in June 2021 as a worker-owned cooperative providing linens to local and regional hospitals. Employees could become ownership participants after at least one year of employment, completion of financial literacy training and approval by fellow employee-owners, allowing workers to share in company decisions and long-term financial growth.
The roughly 30,000-square-foot facility at 601 W. Amarillo Blvd., on the former site of the Inn of Amarillo, was developed through a partnership among the Saint Anthony Legacy Redevelopment Corporation, the North Heights Advisory Association, the Amarillo Area Foundation and local investors. The project was designed to create employment opportunities within the North Heights neighborhood, particularly ZIP code 79107, a hiring focus expected to continue under the new ownership.
Financial backing for the project came from multiple local institutions, including Amarillo National Bank, Happy State Bank, FirstBank Southwest, First United Bank and Prosperity Bank, along with the Amarillo Area Foundation and the Harrington Foundation.
The facility allows area hospitals to process hospital linens within the Panhandle rather than transporting them hundreds of miles, reducing turnaround time and strengthening regional medical supply reliability.
This is a developing story; more information will be added as it becomes available.
This article originally appeared on Amarillo Globe-News: North Heights Linen Service sold to Canadian company
Reporting by Michael Cuviello, Amarillo Globe-News / Amarillo Globe-News
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