Vermont Machine Tool building fails to sell at auction

The home of the defunct Vermont Machine Tool Co. failed to sell Thursday at an auction called by Mascoma Savings Bank, the chief lender for the company which closed its doors in April, leaving behind layers of debt.

http://www.rutlandherald.com/article/20151113/NEWS02/151119805

Published November 13, 2015 in the Rutland Herald Vermont Machine Tool building fails to sell at auction By Susan Smallheer STAFF WRITER SPRINGFIELD — The home of the defunct Vermont Machine Tool Co. failed to sell Thursday at an auction called by Mascoma Savings Bank, the chief lender for the company which closed its doors in April, leaving behind layers of debt. Only a representative from the bank, the bank’s lawyer, the auctioneer, a local businessman who said he was simply curious, and the executive director of the Springfield Regional Development Corp. attended the auction, which never really got started. At about 11:15 a.m., Mascoma Vice President Terry Martin called off the auction. Martin and others had been drinking coffee and hoping that someone would show up to make a bid. Martin said the building had an unspecified minimum bid. Martin said that the bank had paid for an environmental assessment of the cavernous industrial building. Afterwards, he said that the building was still for sale. He declined to say how much Mascoma was owed. Local businessman James Ballard said he was there out of curiosity, but he talked privately at length to Martin and left saying he might be interested in the building. “I don’t know,” Ballard said. “Maybe. But not at this point in time. But you never know.” Ballard said his involvement with the building predated Vermont Machine Tool Co., which bought the building from Precision Valley Development Corp. Precision Valley had been given the building by the town, which in turn had received it from Ex-Cell-O Corp., the former corporate owner of Fellows Gear Shaper. Ballard said that he had proposed that the town turn the former Fellows building, which was the most modern section of the complex, into a town civic center. It has a prime location and high visibility on the Black River, in the center of town, he said, with easy access to the Springfield Shopping Plaza via the Fellows Footbridge. But instead, Ballard said, the town “gave the building away.” The company rebuilt and refurbished — modernized with new computer controls — old machinery. An auction in September sold off the equipment, machinery and other materials, according to auctioneer Ross Finn of Joseph Finn & Co. auctioneers., who said that auction was a success. Finn said “hundreds” of people showed up for the September auction, and the building was largely empty, where once had been dozens of large machines. Craig Barrett, who lived in Woodstock, was the founder and president of Vermont Machine Tool. He had previously worked at Jones & Lamson Machine Tool Co. before setting up his own business — refurbishing the older machines made by his earlier employer. Vermont Machine Tool Co. owed a lot of organizations a lot of money, according to records at the Springfield Town Hall. In August, the Merchants Bank discharged a mortgage of $3.5 million, according to Springfield Town Clerk Barbara Courchesne. But Courchesne said that town records showed many different liens and mortgages filed over the years. Town Attorney Stephen Ankuda said that the town had discharged its subordinate mortgage on the property, clearing the way for the sale by Mascoma. Ankuda said he didn’t remember how much money Vermont Machine Tool owed the town at the time of its collapse. The loan had come from the town’s revolving loan fund, which comes from federal grants paid back to the town for economic development purposes. A year ago, the company owed the town $526,000 on a $612,000 loan from 2003, and had been delinquent for years. At that time, town officials said the company was eight years behind on the loan, but that forcing the issue might “do more harm than good.” Also believed to have lent the company money was the Vermont Economic Development Authority and the Small Business Administration. The building, which sits on 1.33 acres on Pearl Street, is assessed at just over $500,000, according to town records. Bob Flint, executive director of the local development group, said his organization was not owed any money by the defunct company. “Someday, someone will own this building,” said Flint, whose organization has ended up owning two of the former major machine tool companies, and is working to clean up pollution at the sites.