Jasper-based Kimball Hospitality is opening a new furniture manufacturing facility in Martinsville, Va., the company announced this afternoon.

The 60,000-square-foot facility represents a $1 million investment for Kimball. The facility will include space for production, administrative offices and a showroom, and it will lead to the creation of 67 new jobs in Virginia.

Until recently, Kimball Hospitality has focused mostly on wood furniture for hotel rooms, including beds and headboards, armoires and television cabinets. Last fall, Kimball introduced a line of upholstered seating products for the hospitality industry, including Ottomans, lounge chairs, sofas and sleeper sofas. The Virginia facility will focus on production of this new line.

“We see a lot of potential in that market,” said Marty Vaught, Kimball’s director of public relations.

Kimball Hospitality, which produces both standard and custom furnishings for the hospitality industry, is a brand unit of Kimball International. Kimball International also includes an electronic manufacturing services segment.

During the recent economic downturn, Kimball’s furnishings business has suffered as hospitality companies have put expansion and renovation plans on hold.

But Vaught said market watchers expect the industry to improve in coming years, so investing in the new product line makes sense.

“We definitely think this is one of those prudent investments to make now so that we are able to ride the upswing right out of the gate,” Vaught said.

Kimball considers hospitality seating to be a market with good growth potential, Vaught said, because those pieces are typically replaced more often than the other types of furnishings that Kimball makes.

Vaught said Kimball will move into an existing building in Martinsville, and the facility should be up and running in six to eight weeks.

The company selected Martinsville because that area is a hub for furniture production, Vaught said.