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Line of credit sought to help buy Delphi buildings
By Ed Runyan
WARREN
Preserving 1.2 million square feet of former Delphi Packard Electric manufacturing space so that other companies can reuse it is a high-enough priority for the Trumbull County commissioners that they want to help the Western Reserve Port Authority buy it.
The commissioners took a step toward making that happen last week by voting to apply to Fifth Third Bank on behalf of the port authority for a $1.5 million line of credit.
The port authority, which runs the Youngstown- Warren Regional Airport, also conducts economic- development activities. It hired former Cuyahoga County Port Authority official Rose Ann DeLeon a year ago to head up those efforts.
Paul Heltzel, Trumbull County commissioner, said securing the line of credit is being done to assure Delphi that the port authority will have the means and financial backing of the commissioners to purchase three of the seven buildings the company owns at North River Road and Larchmont Avenue.
Heltzel called the letter of credit “an assurance that [the port authority] is good for the $1.5 million.”
The buildings are 274,000 square feet, 414,000 square feet and 491,000 square feet, totaling 1,179,000 square feet.
Ultimately, the port authority hopes to sell bonds and acquire grants from the Ohio Department of Development to fund the acquisition, Heltzel said.
Delphi, which downsized its North River Road- Larchmont Avenue facilities in the wake of its 2005 bankruptcy, still uses two of the seven buildings for manufacturing. It has been trying to sell off the five others.
The buildings the port authority wants to acquire are the three closest to state Route 5, which are among the five buildings Delphi has said it might need to raze if a buyer cannot be found soon.
“These are well-kept, well- maintained buildings,” Heltzel said, adding that he thinks they are a viable option for companies looking for manufacturing space.
“If they were razed, we’d lose the benefit of the jobs that could be obtained,” he said. “There’s a lot of potential there.”
If the buildings were razed, Bazetta Township and the Lakeview school district also would lose a great deal of real-estate tax revenue, and Howland Township and the Howland schools also would lose some, Heltzel said.
If that happens, the taxes of all other Bazetta and Howland property owners have to rise to offset the loss, he added.
Heltzel said he is not able to disclose all of the details of the port authority’s proposed purchase, such as the total price, but said the total is not $1.5 million.
The port authority has relatively few assets, so the county’s credit is needed to secure the line of credit, Heltzel said.