HOWLAND Brokerage helps businesses relocate

The brokerage firm has helped two manufacturers find new local digs.
By CYNTHIA VINARSKY
VINDICATOR BUSINESS WRITER
HOWLAND -- Gris Hurlbert said he was just doing what he knows best when he founded Routh-Hurlbert, a real estate brokerage dealing exclusively with industrial and commercial properties and site development.
In business since January, the Howland-based company has already landed deals for two manufacturing sites in the Mahoning Valley and has others in the works.
Hurlbert said the company relocated Tremont Cultural Center, Inc., an architectural iron fabricator, from Cleveland to a new location on Wilson Avenue in Youngstown.
The company, a maker of wrought-iron gates, fencing and customized outdoor furniture, had to find a new home because its former location in an old Cleveland neighborhood is being renovated for another use, he said. Routh-Hurlbert moved the business into a 36,000-square-foot complex, formerly the Phoenix Electric plant.
The brokerage also found new digs for TCH Inc., which cuts and customizes foam insulation used to pack musical instruments, medical testing devices and other delicate equipment.
TCH is moving to a 30,000-square-foot building on Warren-Ravenna Road in Braceville Township near Newton Falls.
Plans are to consolidate TCH's operations at the Braceville building, closing a small plant on Manning Street in Youngstown and a larger facility on Belmont Avenue.
Background
Hurlbert spent more than 10 years dealing in commercial and industrial real estate as a broker for The Routh Co., a longtime Warren-area brokerage.
He said Routh-Hurlbert has an arrangement with the Routh Co. to continue serving the Warren company's clients. Calvin Routh, who was a broker with the company for 25 years, is still licensed but is living outside the area.
Before working in real estate, Hurlbert was president and chief executive of The Bostwick Steel Lath Co. in Niles, a maker of construction metal products for the drywall and plaster industry. In that role, Hurlbert said, he helped set up new Bostwick plants in Tennessee and Florida.
Bostwick Steel Lath was bought out by an Alabama company in 1990.
Chuck Joseph, who recently retired as divisional facilities manager at Delphi Automotive Systems, has joined the firm as a sales associate. Joseph is a Youngstown State University engineering graduate and has a master's degree in business administration from Kent State University.
Hurlbert said his brokerage is looking for ways to help the growing small and midsized business when they need more space.
"That's our niche, helping the growing business," he said.
"It's nice to look for one single shot, like a GM plant, but we also need to encourage midsize and small businesses that aren't necessarily related to the auto or steel industries. That's how we can diversify our economy."
vinarsky@vindy.com