Warren grad seeking to bring his company headquarters to former Packard plant

WARREN

Christopher Alan, a 1980 graduate of Warren Western Reserve High School, stood in front of a worn mural on an inside wall of the huge former Packard Electric plant on Dana Street Northeast on Tuesday morning and described his vision for reusing that space.

His company, Los Angeles-based Auto Parkit, designs and manufactures automated parking structures that move and store automobiles in half the space of ramp parking.

The company has manufacturing and warehousing facilities in four states and wants to consolidate them into one location and also meet growing demand for its products.

Alan said at a news conference his company will be conducting its “due diligence” for the project over the next six to 12 months – researching financing options, seeking government help to eliminate potential environmental issues at the site and restore rail access.

The company will work with Mahoning Valley economic-development teams, the governor’s office and other state officials to determine whether the site will be workable, he said.

The 500,000-square-foot Packard site eventually could be home to Parkit’s headquarters and house its engineering, architecture and manufacturing facilities. That could mean 250 to 300 jobs in the next three years and 800 to 1,000 jobs within 10 years, he said.

Read more about the project in Wednesday's Vindicator or on Vindy.com.