ARTO Brick Is Turning the Old Sam Levitz Warehouse Into a Factory With 85 Tucson Jobs
Published: September 9, 2026 | By TucsonHIRED Team
TUCSON, AZ — For almost two years, the enormous building at 3430 E. 36th St. has sat dark, a 123,394-square-foot reminder that Sam Levitz Furniture is gone. That changes this winter. ARTO Brick, a family-run Southern California manufacturer of handmade tile, pavers and brick veneer, bought the property for $8.6 million and is turning it into its new headquarters and factory floor, with about 85 jobs attached.
Production is targeted to start by Christmas, and company leadership has said hiring ramps up ahead of it.
In a hurry? Skip straight to the job links and begin searching now →
📍 The Project at a Glance
| Company | ARTO Brick (Arto 3430 LLC), founded 1966, Gardena, California |
| Location | 3430 E. 36th St., Tucson, AZ |
| Building | 123,394 sq. ft. on roughly 8 acres, former Sam Levitz warehouse |
| Purchase price | $8,635,920, closed June 12, 2026 |
| Jobs | About 85, from general labor to management |
| Production start | Targeted by Christmas 2026, full ramp into 2027 |
| Industry | Ceramic, concrete and clay tile manufacturing |
🧱 Who ARTO Is
ARTO started in 1966 with a milk delivery route. Arto Alajian, a classically trained artist from an Armenian family born in Alexandria, Egypt, sold handmade clay brick veneers off that route in Venice, California, and built a company out of it. He died in 2014. His sons Armen and Varoujan Alajian run the business today out of the same Los Angeles County plant their father started.
Nearly 60 years on, the company makes concrete and ceramic tile, glazed brick veneer, pavers, porcelain and stone surfaces, everything sold to architects, designers, distributors and dealers rather than to walk-in shoppers. Its work turns up in high-end restaurants, in homes designed by Joanna Gaines, on Hot Topic storefronts around the country, and at Shanghai Disneyland. The Tucson plant is meant to expand output of the company's Roman and Thin Brick collections.
One detail matters for anyone picturing a furniture-store replacement: the 36th Street building will not be open to the public. It is a place where products get made, boxed and shipped.
🏗️ Why the Sam Levitz Building
The site sits in south-central Tucson's industrial corridor off Palo Verde Road, a short hop from I-10 and Kino Parkway. Levitz family ownership dated back to roughly 1974, and the warehouse went quiet in the fall of 2024 when Sam Levitz announced liquidation at its 36th Street and Orange Grove Road stores, ending a 71-year run for one of the city's best-known homegrown retailers.
The building came with warehouse, distribution, showroom and manufacturing space already in place, which is unusual and expensive to build from scratch. Cushman & Wakefield | PICOR's Stephen Cohen and Paul Hooker represented the seller, 36th & Palo Verde Investors LLC. Rick Borane of Volk Company represented ARTO.
Armen Alajian has said publicly that the company needed more room and that Tucson penciled out on price and logistics. According to The Chamber of Southern Arizona, Tucson beat out Las Vegas, Reno, Phoenix and Mexico for the project, and the Chamber projects a 10-year economic impact above $300 million.
💼 What It Means for Tucson Job Seekers
The 85 figure covers a real spread, not just one job title. The company has described roles from general labor through shipping clerks and sales managers on up to executive positions, with training and benefits provided for new hires. The Los Angeles plant, which employs roughly 100 and stays open, gives a rough shape of what a full ARTO operation looks like.
Handcrafted production is labor-hungry by design. As Armen Alajian put it to the Tucson Sentinel, "We're handcrafted, so the more we do, the more hands we're going to need." He also said he is interested in bringing on younger workers and treating ARTO as a place to develop.
Based on the roles the company has named, expect the hiring to land in these lanes:
- General production and labor – mixing, molding, glazing, finishing and packing. See our machine operator and assembler guides for what these roles look like locally.
- Shipping and receiving clerks – ARTO ships nationally and internationally. Our shipping and receiving clerk guide covers the pay and paperwork side.
- Forklift and warehouse roles – heavy, palletized product moving through a 123,000-square-foot floor. See the warehouse and logistics hub.
- Industrial maintenance technicians – kilns, mixers and conveyors need keeping alive. Our maintenance tech guide has the details.
- Production supervisors and leads – see the production supervisor guide.
- Sales and account management – selling into the architect, designer and dealer channel. Start with our sales careers hub.
On pay: the facility is inside Tucson city limits, so the Tucson minimum wage of $15.45 an hour applies rather than the $15.15 state floor. ARTO has not published wage ranges for its Tucson roles. For context, entry-level production and machine operator work across Tucson generally runs about $16 to $22 an hour, with skilled technicians and inspectors higher, as laid out in our manufacturing and production hub.
📈 Another Piece of Tucson's Manufacturing Build-Out
ARTO is not arriving in isolation. Tucson has been stacking manufacturing commitments for two years now, from the six-company, 285-job expansion that brought in names like Kilgore Manufacturing, to the American Battery Factory plant slated to come online late this year.
What makes ARTO different is the entry point. Most of Tucson's manufacturing growth has been defense and aerospace work, which frequently requires U.S. citizenship and a security clearance. A handmade tile plant does not. That opens the door to a group of job seekers largely locked out of the Raytheon supplier network.
🔍 Search Jobs Now
ARTO has not posted Tucson openings publicly yet. These searches surface current local work in the same lanes, and will catch ARTO listings as they go up:
- ARTO Brick jobs in Tucson
- Manufacturing jobs in Tucson
- Production worker jobs in Tucson
- Machine operator jobs in Tucson
- Warehouse jobs in Tucson
- Shipping clerk jobs in Tucson
- Maintenance technician jobs in Tucson
Create a free TucsonHIRED account to set job alerts, so new manufacturing openings on the south side hit your inbox before the crowd finds them. Hiring production staff yourself? Post a job and reach Tucson's manufacturing workforce directly.
❓ Frequently Asked Questions
What is ARTO Brick?
ARTO is a family-owned manufacturer founded in 1966 in Southern California. It makes handcrafted ceramic and concrete tile, pavers, glazed brick veneer and architectural surfaces, sold to architects, designers, distributors and dealers nationally and internationally.
How many jobs is ARTO bringing to Tucson?
About 85, spanning general labor, shipping clerks, sales managers and management roles. The company has said it will provide training and benefits for new hires.
When will ARTO start hiring in Tucson?
Company leadership indicated in July that hiring would ramp up in the following weeks, with production targeted by Christmas 2026. Economic development filings point to a fuller operational ramp during 2027. No public Tucson job postings have appeared yet, so watch for them.
Where is the ARTO Tucson facility?
3430 E. 36th St., the former Sam Levitz warehouse in south-central Tucson near Palo Verde Road. It is a production and shipping facility and will not be open to walk-in customers.
Do I need experience to work there?
ARTO has not published requirements for its Tucson roles. General labor and production positions in Tucson manufacturing typically train on the job, while maintenance, supervisory and sales roles usually want relevant experience. Forklift certification and OSHA 10 strengthen most plant applications.
What happened to Sam Levitz?
The retailer announced liquidation sales at its 36th Street and Orange Grove Road stores in October 2024, closing after 71 years. Second-generation owner Sam R. Levitz called the decision bittersweet at the time. The 36th Street building had been in family hands since roughly 1974.
🔔 Keep Watching This One
There is something fitting about a family business that has been making things by hand since 1966 taking over a building another family business filled for half a century. If you want the openings the moment they post, set an alert on TucsonHIRED and get a resume ready now. Eighty-five jobs on the south side is not a number this town sees every month.
