Calif. company buys building leased by Intier

LORDSTOWN — A California investment company bought the building that is leased by Intier Automotive for $5.5 million.

Intier, which produces seats for cars made at General Motors’ Lordstown complex, will continue to operate at the site, said Jerry Hopkins, a senior associate at Stan Johnson Co. of Tulsa, Okla., which brokered the sale.

Hopkins declined to identify the buyer, but real estate records show the new owner as Copeland Properties of Redland, Calif. Hopkins said the buyer sees the building as an investment.

“Many of our investors, located on the East and West coasts, are finding it harder to locate reasonably priced properties in their home markets, so they are looking at other markets in the Midwest,” Hopkins said.

The buyer liked Intier as a tenant, he said. Intier, based in Canada, employs 10,000 people around the world.

Copeland Properties bought the building at 1702 Henn Parkway on Sept. 24 from Davis International of Boardman.

Davis built the manufacturing plant in 2004 as GM was preparing to launch the Chevrolet Cobalt at the Lordstown plant. GM switched the seating contract from Lear Corp. to Intier at that time, although the local Lear plant received other work.

Doug Lumsden Jr., Davis president, said the sale will allow the company to develop other properties.