The trust handling former General Motors properties has sold the automaker's former Parma transmission plant to two area businessmen. The owners of 54 Chevy LLC say they plan to turn the site into an industrial park, hopefully attracting new jobs to Parma.
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General Motors displays a 1954 Chevrolet Bel Air at a 2007 fashion event in Los Angeles. Two Northeast Ohio businessmen have chosen the name 54 Chevy LLC for the company that will redevelop the site of the automaker's former transmission plant in Parma. The name refers to the old cars and the site's location at 5400 Chevrolet Blvd. in Parma.CLEVELAND, Ohio -- A pair of Northeast Ohio businessmen have teamed up to buy General Motors' former transmission plant in Parma.
Joseph Greenberg, head of Greenberg Real Estate Advisors and vice president of Chelm Properties in Solon, has former 54 Chevy LLC with Michael Kadis, chairman of Federal Equipment Co., a Cleveland company that sells used industrial supplies. The newly formed company last month bought the 527,000 square foot plant and about 60 acres of land in Parma.
"We bought the site to redevelop it. We think it's a fabulous opportunity in a great location," Greenberg said. "The building is in tremendous condition. General Motors took great care of it."
Greenberg said conditions of the sale prevent him from disclosing the cost of the property. The county auditor's office pegged it at about $5 million. The deed transfer listed the sales price at $10 plus other "good and valuable consideration." Greenberg said the price was well over $10.
Greenberg and Kadis chose the 54 Chevy name as a play on the property's 5400 Chevrolet Blvd. address and to harken back to classic vehicles from the early 1950s.
GM closed the transmission plant early this year, but it had been working on skeleton shifts since 2009. That year, the automaker filed for bankruptcy and listed the transmission plant as one of the properties that would be left behind when it emerged.The adjacent stamping plant in Parma stayed with GM and has increased employment in recent years. The workers who had been at the transmission plant all either retired or transferred next door.
In March, the bankruptcy court handling the GM case created the Revitalizing Auto Communities Environmental Response (RACER) Trust to sell off GM's old properties and use the funds to clean up contamination at those sites. On Wednesday, the trust announced the sale of the Parma plant and the sale of GM's former Mansfield, Ohio, plant to Stuart Lichter's Industrial Real Estate Group.
The trust also sold a former GM stamping plant in Michigan.
Though it sold the bulk of the land and the plant property to 54 Chevy, RACER sold six acres of land to the city of Parma that will be used as a stormwater retention pond.
In a written statement, Parma Mayor Dean DePiero said the city was happy that the site is being redeveloped.
"We are looking forward to continuing the partnership with 54 Chevy to bring more jobs into Parma," DePiero said.
Greenberg said he believes the site will attract companies that will create large numbers of good jobs in the community.
"There's plenty of land for us to build buildings for people or sell to people," Greenberg said. "And the building is certainly flexible enough for multiple uses."