SALINA — The Detroit, Mich.–based organization that owns the Salina Industrial Powerpark is working with a local real-estate firm to pursue additional tenants for the facility and eventually sell the property. The Salina Industrial Powerpark at 1 General Motors Drive in Salina is a former General Motors (GM) auto-parts plant that GM shuttered in 1993. […]
SALINA — The Detroit, Mich.–based organization that owns the Salina Industrial Powerpark is working with a local real-estate firm to pursue additional tenants for the facility and eventually sell the property.
The Salina Industrial Powerpark at 1 General Motors Drive in Salina is a former General Motors (GM) auto-parts plant that GM shuttered in 1993.
Racer Trust, which purchased the facility in 2011 following the GM bankruptcy, has been working with Cushman & Wakefield / Pyramid Brokerage Company to market the property.
Racer is an acronym for Revitalizing Auto Communities Environmental Response Trust.
The organizations held an open house at the 827,000-square-foot property on Oct. 30.
The purpose of the open house is “two fold,” says Patricia Spitzley, deputy redevelopment manager for Racer Trust.
The organization is seeking a buyer, but it is also hoping to secure additional tenants for the Powerpark.
“This is what we consider an income-generating piece of property, and so while we are interested in ultimately selling it, our immediate focus is filling it up,” says Spitzley.
She spoke with the Business Journal News Network at the open house.
The facility is about “62 percent” full as of Oct. 30, with 15 businesses leasing space in the 827,000-square-foot plant, says Spitzley.
The current occupants of the building include: Bitzer Scroll Inc., a manufacturer of air-conditioning and refrigeration compressors; Carpenter Industries, Inc., which performs abrasive blasting, welding, and fabrications; Syracuse Glass Company, which manufactures architectural and tempered glass building products; and Roth Global Plastics, a plastics blow-molding manufacturing facility.
The right buyer has to meet certain criteria that Racer establishes, including purchase price, job creation, support of the community, the willingness to allow Racer to fulfill its environmental responsibilities on the property, says Spitzley.
Any potential buyers are subject to a background check to make sure their intentions are to move the property forward.
“They’re not in it to come here, buy the property, tear it down,” she says.
Property history
General Motors began operations at the Salina Industrial Powerpark site in 1952. The site was used for the manufacture of metal automotive components and plastic auto parts. GM closed the facility, called the Inland Fisher Guide plant, in 1993.
In his remarks at the open house, John Clark, president and principal broker of Pyramid Brokerage Company, noted that GM retained Pyramid Brokerage when it announced the closing of the Inland Fisher Guide plant.
GM sought Pyramid’s help in the planning decisions and implementing the next steps with the site, said Clark.
One of the options was to demolish the building and leave the site vacant.
“The other was to renovate, subdivide, and lease the facility to numerous tenants,” he said.
Transforming the facility into the Salina Industrial Powerpark would require capital improvements. General Motors started the project, but it stalled with the firm’s bankruptcy, said Clark.
“The Racer Trust has taken over and brought this project to a whole new level investing the capital to make the necessary improvements,” he says.
Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com
