Cincinnati PR

Press Release – For Immediate Release: Masco in Waverly – The Rebirth – The Press Release

Link to today’s story in The Columbus Dispatch: http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/business/2012/12/29/theres-new-hope-for-waverly-plant.html

MASCO in Waverly: The Rebirth

Adaptive reuse developers Semarjian/Lichter from Industrial Commerce Ltd. of Cleveland, Industrial Realty Group from Los Angeles uncover gem in central Ohio with high-tech cabinetry factory

Previously, MASCO employed 3,400+, at facility that once drew from five central OH counties.

Local officials, developers expect to restore many of the lost jobs during 2013.

First tenant simultaneously announced: Gilco International Lumber of WVa., bringing 40 new jobs.

Former Masco factory built RTA (ready-to-assemble) furniture for Lowe’s, Home Depot, other major brands.

[WAVERLY, Ohio ~ Dec. 29, 2012] Less than two years after Masco Corp. (NYSE: MAS) closed its cavernous cabinetry plant in Waverly, Ohio – a factory that once employed more than 3,400 workers, drawing from five middle-Ohio counties – the Semarjian/Lichter team from Industrial Commerce Ltd. of Cleveland and Industrial Realty Group (IRG – www.irg.cc) of Los Angeles is bringing new life, jobs and hope to this central Ohio community and its signature factory facility.

The Semarjian/Lichter team closed on the 2.5 million-square-foot Masco Retail Cabinet Group factory on Dec. 18, from Masco Corp. of Michigan.

Masco idled the plant in early 2011, putting about 1,200 people out of work. The developers also signed their first tenant at the facility, Gilco International Lumber of Varney, West Va., bringing 40 new jobs  immediately to the Hopewell Road facility.

“When I first met them in person, and we walked through the plant, what most impressed me was their vision for the place, which is something we shared. We want to see great things – we want an active, proactive partnership that will bring people jobs – and looking at their track record, that’s exactly what they do,” said Waverly Mayor Greg Kempton.

“I don’t know if we could have any better entity to come in here.”

“The Village of Waverly looks to Industrial Commerce Ltd and IRG as a true partnership. We have common interests. What’s good for that property, and the developers, is what’s truly good for the long-term future of Waverly,” Mayor Kempton added.

Looking at next year, and multiple new prospects uncovered by the Semarjian/Lichter network, Mayor Kempton and his new partners expect to “significantly restore the jobs that once called Waverly Masco home,” Mayor Kempton said.

“It’s tough to put numbers out there, but I think that by this time next year, and knowing Chris and Stu, we will see a significant number of those jobs returning to Waverly,” Kempton said.

Like the former B.F. Goodrich plant in Akron, the former Hoover sweeper factory in North Canton, the Delphi Automotive plants in Warren, Ohio, the ex-GM Moraine plant outside of Dayton and others, the renowned recyclers of America’s corporate past are forging their mission of green-friendly, environmentally-strategic adaptive reuse of industrial properties.

“What we see at Waverly are some wonderful, well-kept buildings with a tremendous upside, which we’re proud to re-introduce to the market,” said Lichter.

(On Dec. 19, Lichter and his team rejuvenated an old Sara Lee baking factory outside of Dallas with an infrastructure upgrade and a new buyer, injecting 350 new jobs.)

“Waverly is a tertiary market, where we have already identified some different types of uses for the plant,” Lichter said.

“What we’ll be bringing to Waverly will be some of the biggest business news that’s happened in this part of the Buckeye State in years,” said Semarjian, an Ohio native active across the state.

“We look forward to our newest investment in Ohio, and bringing about a rebirth of the Masco plant to the Waverly community.”

Mr. Semarjian of Industrial Commerce Ltd. can be reached at chris@industrialcommerceltd.com; Mr. Lichter at (562) 803-4761 or slichter@industrialrealtygroup.com.

Darrell Bossert, senior vice president of marketing and leasing with Ohio Realty Advisors and IRG Ohio, who will be marketing the facility with Semarjian and Lichter, can be reached at (440) 539-4160 or dbossert@irgohio.com.

Bossert, Semarjian and Lichter will be joined in leasing and sales efforts by Dean Miller, vice president with Ohio Realty Advisors and IRG Ohio. Mr. Miller can be reached at (513) 383-8351 or dmiller@irgohio.com.

Mayor Kempton can be reached at (740) 708-1018 or mayor@cityofwaverly.net.

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