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V&M buys former Indalex factory
By ED RUNYAN
VIENNA
V&M Two, a sister company of V&M Star, is purchasing the former Indalex factory in Girard and will lease the facility’s 11 acres.
V&M will use the land and building on State Street (U.S. Route 422) to facilitate construction of its $650 million pipe mill on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard in Youngstown.
The price of the building is about $1.9 million, said Rose Ann DeLeon, the port authority’s executive director. The factory contains about 227,000 square feet.
On Tuesday, the Western Reserve Port Authority approved the purchase of the former Indalex land at a cost of $110,800 and lease of the land to V&M, which is making advance lease payments to the port authority to cover the port authority’s cost of the purchase.
The former Indalex property is near the land where the pipe mill is being built.
DeLeon said leasing land from an entity such as the port authority instead of owning it is a common practice for V&M, though she said she doesn’t know why.
V&M will use the former mill land for storage of construction equipment used while the new pipe mill is being built, the building for storage of machinery that will be used inside the new pipe mill and the former Indalex offices for administrative needs.
DeLeon said the land lease is for five years, but V&M has indicated its intent to continue to use the land longer than that.
The former Indalex property will remain within Girard, not be annexed into Youngstown. The land V&M is using for the new mill was annexed into Youngstown.
The former Indalex mill, which V&M bought from SAPA Extruder Inc., closed in 2007, putting about 280 workers out of a job.
Girard Mayor James Melfi said he is “very, very pleased” that the former Indalex factory will return to productive use. Income-tax revenue from Indalex made up 9 percent of the city’s total collections, he said.
He added that he has believed for some time that the area just south of Interstate 80 along Route 422 would be viewed as a good place for the growth of businesses complementary to the V&M Star expansion, such as trucking.
Scott Lynn, chairman of the port authority, which also runs the Youngstown-Warren Regional Airport, said that this is the first economic-development project handled by DeLeon and that he hopes it will “spur the business community’s interest in how the port authority can assist in their growth and expansion efforts.”
V&M will enter into a short-term lease with SAPA for the property to expedite occupancy but will enter into the agreement with the port authority within 90 days.
The port authority’s help with the project “highlights the unique breadth of economic- development services and initiatives the port authority can provide in helping businesses expand and create jobs, DeLeon said.
SAPA is responsible for moving the remaining aluminum extrusion and painting equipment still on the former Indalex site.