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Former Calex Corp. property is sold
CAMPBELL
The former Calex Corp. property, where multiple buildings dot a 35-acre parcel on Wilson Avenue, has been sold to Patriot Land Co. LLC, an affiliate of Patriot Water Treatment LLC in Warren, for $525,000.
The industrial facility, long used for aluminum extrusion and other manufacturing operations, has changed hands over the years, until it was vacated about three years ago, according to city officials.
Patriot Land is in the process of removing overgrown trees, repairing dilapidated sections of fencing and clearing other items from what its new owner, Andrew Blocksom, said were mostly empty buildings.
“My partners and I are interested in creating jobs in the Mahoning Valley. We did it with Patriot Water, and now we’re looking to grow different businesses,” said Blocksom, president of Patriot Land. “We’re cleaning it up right now — we’ve already put people back to work doing that — we need to make it usable for whatever options we have; that’s the first thing.”
At this point, Blocksom said he has no detailed plans for the property.
Campbell city Administrator Jack Dill said the new owners will sit down with city officials in the coming weeks to discuss what Patriot Land has in mind for the Wilson Avenue Site. It’s a prospect that Blocksom and Campbell Mayor Bill Van Such are looking forward to.
“What motivates me is when you talk jobs. I’ll be asking, ‘What are you going to put in, and what kind of jobs is it going to create?’” Van Such said. “I don’t want to get off on the wrong foot with these guys — I want to listen and find out what their intentions are.”
Blocksom graduated from Youngstown State University. He owns and operates a stake of Patriot Land, a property-development company, along with Patriot Water Treatment, which treats water left over from the natural-gas drilling process.
In 2008 and 2009, another venture, Patriot Energy Partners LLC, was active in securing mineral rights for developing oil and gas. Though the company is still active in overseeing existing leases, it is not pursuing new tracts of land, Blocksom said.
Beginning in 2011, Patriot Water found itself embroiled in an ongoing legal battle with the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency, which concluded last year and segued into a lawsuit against the Ohio Department of Natural Resources for the organization’s reading of state laws regarding all water from oil- and gas-drilling operations.
Blocksom skirted questions on the specifics of his plans for his new purchase, but expressed an openness for what could eventually materialize at the site, including either an industrial operation or some aspect of the oil and gas business.
“You buy a building when it makes sense to buy, and we see an opportunity there where our investment can generate a return,” he said.
Compared with years past, Campbell has witnessed a relative rise in its fortunes as of late. In November, Cleveland-based ESI Enviro LLC announced plans to build a $5.5 million water-remediation plant to treat fracking fluid on 15 acres of city-owned land near the new bridge on Bob Cene Way — in close proximity to two planned injection wells where fluid will be disposed of underground.
And in October, the state finalized a $2 million Clean Ohio grant to cleanup 40 acres of the former Youngstown Sheet and Tube property, where Pittsburgh-based Sherman International has announced its intent to construct a $300 million cold-roll coil mill.
The latest purchase was finalized at the end of December, along with another property Blocksom obtained in Youngstown for $216,000 near Gasser Chair in the Crab Creek Industrial Village.