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IAC building sold to NYC firm for $13.5 million
The first industrial building that opened in Greencastle following the departure of IBM Corp. from the community in 1987 has new owners.
Last occupied by IAC (International Automotive Components), the 420,572-square-foot facility on the city’s East Side has been sold to EPM Partners, aka Eliken Property Management, of New York City.
The purchase price, according to the deed filed in the Recorder’s Office at the courthouse, was $13.5 million.
The deed lists planned use of the 39.89-acre site as “light manufacturing, warehousing and distribution.”
EPM Partners has more than 25 properties in more than 10 states that it lists as either for sale or for rent. Its website notes its mission as “revitalizing industrial real estate property while providing value and employment opportunities to local economies.”
“The company is looking for tenants,” Greencastle/Putnam County Economic Development Center Executive Director Kristin Clary told the City Council at its recent July meeting.
It is uncertain whether EPM is seeking one industrial tenant for the entire sprawling facility or would consider converting the building into two or three smaller factory spaces.
Auto parts have been produced at the Fillmore Road site since it opened in the late 1980s as Shenandoah Industries, a division of Automotive Industries of Strasburg, Va. Later it would take on the name of the parent company, Automotive Industries, in operating with more than 700 employees in 1995.
Automotive Industries acquired the property site mid-year 1987, just weeks after IBM had totally left the building that March.
It was later purchased by Lear Corp., and remained as Lear until the plastic interiors portion of the business was acquired by IAC.
As of 2014, IAC was humming along with more than 850 hourly workers. That dwindled to 500 by 2019.
And when 56 workers were laid off on March 18, production ceased and only 10 employees remained to carry out closing operations that ended April 1.