Industrial park to be put up for sale soon

By Don Shilling

Lordstown has applied for stimulus money to take over the industrial park.

LORDSTOWN — The Ohio Commerce Park, which has 17 businesses but plenty of vacant buildings, will be shut down by the end of the year if it is not sold, an official said.

The industrial park will be put on the market in the next few weeks, said Arvid Povilaitis, chief operating officer for Meritex, a Minneapolis-based real estate investment company that has owned the park for nearly 30 years.

Lordstown officials say the businesses in the park employ about 250 people and are looking for new locations.

The village has applied for federal money from the stimulus package with the hopes of taking over the park, said Ron Barnhart, Lordstown planning and zoning administrator.

Village officials are trying to act quickly because they don’t want to lose tenants, but they don’t have money to buy the park without help from the state or federal governments, he said.

“If they close their doors, it’s too late because the businesses would be gone,” Barnhart said.

Povilaitis said the park has become too expensive to operate because too many tenants have left. The park, which has 1.4 million square feet of space, is only about 45 percent occupied, down from more than 70 percent about eight years ago, he said.

The demand for warehouse space has fallen drastically as the economy has slowed, he said.

Meritex operates office and warehouse complexes in eight states and would rather put its resources in areas where it has more than one location, he said.

Povilaitis said Meritex also operates a logistics company out of the Lordstown park, but that business is being shut down at the end of the month. Demand had fallen because of the recession, he said. Meritex Logistics employs 10.

The tenants of the park are being put on month-to-month leases as their contracts expire. Povilaitis said he expects to sell or close the park by the end of the year.

Barnhart said the federal government put up the buildings during World War II to store material. The site was later turned over to the state, which then sold it to Space Centers of America. That company recently changed its name to Meritex. The park used to be known as Space Center of Ohio.

shilling@vindy.com