CHAMPAIGN — Hundman Lumber has agreed to combine with Alexander Lumber, with the Champaign operations moving to Alexander's new location at 1720 W. Anthony Drive next week.

Walter Alexander, president of Alexander Lumber, said Friday that "a great number" of Hundman's employees in Champaign are expected to join Alexander.

Mike Hundman, owner of Bloomington-based Hundman Lumber, said six of Hundman's nine employees in Champaign have accepted positions with Alexander and will report to the new location Monday.

Hundman Lumber's existing store at 601 N. Country Fair Drive, C, will be put on the market for lease or sale, Hundman said. The 11-acre property has 50,000 to 60,000 square feet of showroom and storage space, he said.

Hundman Lumber has seven stores in central Illinois, including Bloomington, Fairbury, Peoria, Lincoln, Springfield, Decatur and Champaign.

It also has two wholesale divisions: Decatur CounterTop and Hundman Truss & Wall Systems in LeRoy.

Richard Hundman founded Hundman Lumber in 1950, and his son, Mike, has managed it since 1974. When the combination is complete, Mike Hundman will become part of Alexander's management team in downstate Illinois.

Alexander Lumber, a 120-year-old family-owned company based in Aurora, has 23 locations in Illinois and Wisconsin.

Walter Alexander said the two companies had been in talks for the last eight months, with the discussions gaining "intensity" the last three months.

He said the combination's actual completion is expected to come in March 2012, but since both parties were "friendly competitors" in the Champaign market, it made sense to combine those facilities sooner.

Alexander said the two companies also have "overlap" in Lincoln and Bloomington-Normal, and the firms are still "working on solutions" for those markets.

Hundman said the combination will be phased in, with the Champaign consolidation occurring first and the Lincoln consolidation next. In Lincoln, Alexander is expected to move into the Hundman facility, he said.

A final decision hasn't been reached on the Bloomington facilities, he added.

Lumber companies that do business with home-building contractors have been hard-pressed the last couple years, with demand for home construction remaining low.

Hundman said both companies depend on new construction, but "it may be years and years" before home building is as strong as it was the last 25 years.

Plus, he said, lumber companies require a lot of capital and reinvestment, and "at my age, that's not something I want to take a look at."

He called the Alexander family "great people" he's known for years and praised their character and integrity.

"We've certainly been pleased in conducting negotiations with Mike Hundman and his people, and we're looking forward to progressive growth as a result of that combination," Alexander said.

Hundman Lumber entered the Champaign market in 1994 when it acquired the Thompson Lumber Co. facilities in Champaign and Decatur.

Alexander Lumber has been in the Champaign market since July 1915. Its store was located at Bloomington Road and Prospect Avenue from about 1960 until 2010, when it moved to new, larger facilities on Anthony Drive near Mattis Avenue.