A Kansas City company that specializes in retrofitting old factories is set to close today on its purchase of the former Dayton Tire plant, and is preparing to spend millions to turn it into an industrial park.
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The plant, built in 1969, closed one year ago due to declining sales of Bridgestone/Firestone tires and left 1,700 workers unemployed. Big Industrial LLC specializes in buying closed plants and converting them into industrial parks.
Company officials said Wednesday the Dayton Tire plant is an attractive candidate because of its proximity to Interstate 35, Interstate 40 and Will Rogers World Airport, on-site connections to the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway, and an on-site cogeneration, natural gas fired power plant owned by PowerSmith.
"We look for opportunities,” said Todd Mendon, marketing manager with Big Industrial. "We like what we see in respect to activity, not just in the industrial market, but in the growth with Bricktown and the momentum that Oklahoma City appears to have. It's reasonably close to our home office in Kansas City, and it's a redevelopment project.”
Mendon said Bridgestone/Firestone will spend the next couple months removing the last of its equipment. Big Industrial, meanwhile, is finalizing plans for renovations that will include new roofing, facade changes, added docks, and a reconfiguration of the space to allow for tenants to use 25,000 to 2.5 million square feet of space.
"We have a plan that would add a lot of additional loading docks,” Mendon said. "We know where we can do it, how we can do it, and how quickly we can do it.”
Mendon said the company is already in talks with potential tenants, and has hired Ben Schmidt, who has been an office specialist for three years with NAI Sullivan Group, as a leasing manager for the rechristened Will Rogers Industrial Park.
"I'm anticipating a lot of interest from the local industrial market,” Schmidt said. "This facility has had a long standing presence in this community. It's going to be very exciting.”
Robin Roberts, executive vice president over economic development at the Greater Oklahoma City Chamber, welcomed the pending sale and promised improvements.
"When you hear that something like Dayton tire is closing, that's hurtful for the community, but as a redevelopment specialist, you have to look at what a redaptive use might be.”
Both Roberts and Mendon hope the plant's unique assets — most notably the cogeneration plant — could actually attract new manufacturers to town. Both, however, downplayed the prospect of landing one big manufacturer like Bridgestone/Firestone, noting such plants are being vacated by the ongoing advent of off-shoring jobs and declining manufacturing in the United States. "Would it be wonderful to get one industrial user?” Roberts asked. "Absolutely. But we could also get some opportunities with value-added manufacturing.”
Mendon declined to release the sale price. The sale was brokered by Eric Dienstbach of Binswanger, an international full-service real estate organization based in Philadelphia.
An analysis released earlier this year by Grubb-Ellis indicated the local market is ready for new industrial space, with vacancy down to 10 percent. Broker Harrison Levy said Wednesday the market remains tight.
Levy predicted Big Industrial will also have success developing raw land on the 300-acre factory site.
"The area is phenomenal, with Hobby Lobby nearby, Highway 152 opening, and now the converting of existing buildings into an industrial park,” Levy said. "It's a good bet.”
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How in the world do I sound like a union suck? Those orgs have outlived their usefulness. They had their time, but they are now WAY more harmful than helpful. I just 'tire' of mister's continual optimism and glee...so I'll argue with him about anything.
You two guys sound like a couple of those union sucks who have shot themselves in the foot by raping the tire industry and allowed ourselves to get our butts kicked by off shore manufacturing. Oklahoma still has tire manufacturing, you know. Non-union and still going strong. Yeah, it's going to be tough to put somebody in that building but when we do it will be a non-union manufacturer. And by the way, wake up and take notice of the three largest available facilities in OKC. GM, Lucent, and Dayton... all union plants and all gone. Must be something in the water....
Mister, you're such a moron. Nowhere in the story was there any mention of trying to replace those jobs. The story was simply about an opportunity that has presented itself due to the misfortune of Dayton. Oh, and your optimism is contagious - like VD. Go away, clown. Go somewhere like Seattle, where the whole community would welcome your moribund attitude and outlook.
This story is about trying to make a silk purse out of a sows ear. Nothing that comes in will remotely repalce those Dayton jobs. Welcome to the world of $9 an hour manufacturing jobs Oklahoma,you have been sold down the river by your own chambers of commerce and economic development boards. How 'bout that MG plant down in Ardmore now guys ???? LMAO
Big Industrial LLC is buying the former Dayton Tire plant and plans to renovate the property as Will Rogers Industrial Park as shown in this rendering. Provided by Big Industrial LLC
AT A GLANCE
History of the plant
Operated as a Bridgestone/Firestone tire manufacturing plant, the Dayton Tire plant opened in Oklahoma City in 1969. It has been known as Dayton Tire, Dayton Tire and Firestone plant, and finally as the Bridgestone/Firestone plant.
Dayton, Road King, Triumph, Lemans, Firestone and Seiberling tires were all made at the Oklahoma City plant. The plant produced tires for light trucks and spare tires, typically considered low-margin products susceptible to overseas competition.
The plant closed Dec. 22, 2006, displacing about 1,700 Oklahoma City workers.
About Will Rogers Business Park
•2500 S Council Road in Oklahoma City.
•Zoned heavy industrial.
•2,587,967 square feet can be subdivided down to 25,000 square feet and renovated and customized.
•The plant features 24-foot ceilings, truck bays and loading docks, on-site rail access to Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway, and proximity to Interstate 35, I-40 and Will Rogers World Airport.
•The plant has an on-site, cogeneration, natural gas-fired power plant owned by PowerSmith. Tenants may qualify for subsidized heating, cooling, or process energy.
•The industrial park is expected to lease for $1.99 to $3.50 a square foot.
About Big Industrial LLC
Big Industrial LLC is a national industrial property developer headquartered in Prairie Village, Kan., with holdings in Kansas, Missouri, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Arizona, Texas and Florida.
•The company acquires vacant or underutilized industrial properties, restores and updates the properties to first-class condition, leases the space and operates and maintains the properties to create long-term value.
•The principals of Big Industrial, Daniel E. Smith and Fred N. Coulson, each have more than 30 years of commercial, industrial, and investment real estate experience.
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Thank you for joining our conversations on NewsOK.com. We encourage your discussions but ask that you stay within the bounds of our terms and conditions. Please help us by reporting comments that violate these guidelines. To review our rules of engagement, go to Commenting and posting policy.
Leave a comment. Log in below or sign up (it's free).Editor's note: It is not our intent to offer comments on crime or fatality stories.