US LBM confirmed today it sold the assets of Indianapolis market unit, Hall & House, to Carter Lumber. The decision marked the first retreat from a market for what has been one of the nation's fastest-growing construction supply firms.

"Given the market conditions and environment in Indianapolis, we were simply unable to achieve our goals," US LBM president and CEO L.T. Gibson wrote in an e-mail to ProSales "We decided to focus on the many other opportunities we have to grow our company, like the Lyman/ Myers transactions and the new locations we opened this year.

"The sale to Carter may not have been our best financial option, [but] it was the best for our employees and customers so we decided it was our best course of action," Gibson added . Hall & House is based in Westfield, Ind., north of Indianapolis. The fate of that location wasn't immediately clear, as Carter has a store about 10 miles away in Noblesville. Hall & House also had a showroom in Indianapolis that closed several months ago. Carter Lumber also can serve Indianapolis from its yard in Franklin, southeast of the Hoosier capital.

Green Bay, Wis.-based US LBM was created in 2009 out of companies that Stock Building Supply had acquired over the years and then shed when it went into Chapter 11 reorganization. In 2010, its first full year of opeation, the company posted revenues of $269.5 million, 98% of it to pros, and stood in 14th place on this year's ProSales 100. Hall & House was part of Edward Hines Lumber, a Chicago area dealer that US LBM bought in February 2010.

In July, US LBM acquired John H. Myers & Son, a six-unit dealership based in York, Pa. And in October, US LBM took over Lyman Lumber, a Minnesota-based firm that had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The acquisition included Lyman's location in Chanhassen, Minn., and its various subsidiaries, among them Automated Building Components, Carpentry Contractors Corp., and Lyman Lumber of Wisconsin.

Kent, Ohio-based Carter Lumber ranks 11th on this year's ProSales 100, with $534.6 million in sales last year, 82% of them to pros. It had 186 locations at the start of this year.