Building purchase called ‘good for community’

The headquarters of the former Bryant Grinder Corp. has joined the fate of the other Big Three machine tool manufacturers: It will be owned by Springfield Regional Development Corp.

http://www.vermonttoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/RH/20101013/NEWS02/710139889 Published October 13, 2010 in the Rutland Herald          SRDC buys Bryant Grinder building, will rehab          By Susan Smallheer Staff Writer          SPRINGFIELD — The headquarters of the former Bryant Grinder Corp. has joined the fate of the other Big Three machine tool manufacturers: It will be owned by Springfield Regional Development Corp.          Bob Flint, executive director of the nonprofit development group, said this week the group had entered into a purchase and sales agreement with the Florida owner of the building who was willing to sell the manufacturing plant for $250,000.          The building has been vacant for three years, Flint said, and there was some significant deterioration in the 160,000-square-foot building.          The building was owned by the Goldman Group when it sold it to New England Cast in Stone in 2004, which in turn sold it to Mazer Vermont LLC in 2007.          According to Flint, Mazer had been seeking “a much higher price” than the $250,000 SRDC would pay for it.          “It's not what it was,” said Flint, noting the building hadn't been heated for several years, and that the electrical system had been largely stripped from the plant.          In addition, there are breaches in the roof that need to be fixed before winter, he said.          “We want to put it back in use. It's not that we want to own another machine tool plant, but it's for the good of the community,” he said.          In addition, Flint said, there is likely contamination dating from the company's 90-year manufacturing history at the Clinton Street plant.          With the purchase of the large beige building, located across Clinton Street from the former Jones & Lamson Machine Co., and next to the Springfield Police Department, the local development group will own all three manufacturing plants that once employed more than 4,000 workers.          Bryant Grinder was always the smallest of the three firms: Fellows Gear Shaper, J&L, and Bryant.          Flint is on the verge of selling the old Fellows plant to a group of Washington, D.C., investors, and has been involved in several years of brownfields work at the site.          Ahead of Flint is a similar cleanup at the J&L plant,          Flint said that keeping the landmark properties from further deterioration and putting them back to use and on the tax rolls was the purpose of his group.          “That's our mission,” said Flint, after he had outlined the deal for the Select Board Monday evening.          The building, which was built over a 60-year time span, last saw machine tool manufacturing 10 years ago, Flint said.          In recent years, a manufacturer made concrete-cast items, but that firm, New England Cast In Stone, went out of business and declared bankruptcy.          The Springfield Select Board on Monday approved a grant to SRDC of $300,000 toward the purchase of the building and including $50,000 toward the building's stabilization. The money will come from the town's           economic development fund, which was started with a $1 million contribution from the state of Vermont in exchange for Springfield hosting the state prison in Springfield.          Flint said that unlike the “horrific” deterioration SRDC encountered at J&L, he doesn't think Bryant Grinder will face the same extent of brownfields remediation.          In addition to the plant, SRDC is getting the plant's former parking lot, a large flat lot in back of the Clinton Street plant.          “That's a nice building lot off a four-lane highway, just off the interstate,” said Flint.          Town Manager Robert Forguites said that of the $1 million given to the town as part of the prison deal, $835,000 remains since the town gave SRDC $165,000 to purchase J&L.          Interest on the fund over the past several years has generated an additional $200,000, Forguites said.          Flint asked the board to grant SRDC upwards of $25,000 from the interest account so that SRDC can pay the property taxes on the building, which currently are about $20,000 a year.          Forguites said the current owner was up to date on its property taxes, despite the building's vacancy.          “Good luck,” said Kristi Morris, chairman of the Select Board.          Flint said Stone Environmental of Montpelier was doing a brownfields assessment of the building.         http://www.rutlandherald.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2010710139889