YOUNGSTOWN Outfit to open Tartan facility

The former Tartan Textile Services building has been closed since March.
By DAVID SKOLNICK
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- A Michigan-based company is planning to renovate the closed Tartan Textile Services building on Belmont Avenue and open it in the fall as an industrial laundry service.
Domestic Uniform Rental also plans to hire back as many qualified former Tartan workers as possible, said Bob Blinebury, the company's east coast regional vice president. When Tartan closed in March, selling its business for $25 million to a group of nine companies, it laid off 250 workers in Youngstown.
"We hope to retain as many former Tartan employees as we can," Blinebury said.
Construction plans: Domestic Uniform Rental of Farmington Hills, Mich., was to seek permission today from the Youngstown Design Review Committee to demolish the rear of the former Tartan building on the northeast corner of the property, construct an addition of about the same size and build a 37-car parking lot on the 69,222-square-foot property.
When completed, the structure will be two stories and 52,725 square feet, according to plans filed with the city by Byce and Associates, an engineering consulting firm hired by Domestic Uniform.
Blinebury said he did not know how many jobs would be available at the Youngstown building. But the plans filed with the city say that up to 50 employees will work on each shift.
The Belmont Avenue building, bought by Domestic Uniform in April, will serve as the company's regional production facility, providing industrial and manufacturing laundry service to companies in Youngstown, Cleveland, Akron, Canton and Columbus, Blinebury said. That work is done from the company's Detroit facility now, he said.
Liberty location: Domestic Uniform uses a property on Middle Drive in Liberty as a service depot, Blinebury said. That will continue after the Belmont Avenue building is ready in October or November, he said.
Blinebury said he did not know how much money the company is investing in the former Tartan building.
The Belmont Avenue building, near Rayen Avenue, has been closed since Tartan went out of business. Tartan also owned a nearby building on North Avenue that it used as its production plant. It is not known what will be done with that building.
The Youngstown building will be Domestic Uniform's ninth production facility nationwide. The company provides industrial laundry service to about 60 major cities, Blinebury said.
Tartan laundered uniforms and floor mats for industrial plants, schools, restaurants and hotels at that location. Tartan had more than 5,000 customers in Ohio and Pennsylvania when it shut down the Youngstown business.
skolnick@vindy.com