The near 250 jobs that left Kimball Office’s manufacturing plant in Borden in April will be coming back, but in a different form.
It also may take some time.
Borden Business Park LLC purchased the former Kimball plant and officially took over Tuesday, after Kimball moved its operations and the majority of its jobs to its Salem facility. The new owners plan to make the facility home to manufacturing, warehouse services and office space for startup companies.
Rick Koetter, manager of Borden Business Park, would not disclose the purchase price of the facility, only that Kimball partially financed the sale.
The potential for the business park to lure in companies, jobs and revenue is optimistic.
“If we were to plan out an ideal situation after Kimball had left town, I don’t think we could have asked for a better scenario,” said Paul Wheatley, director of outreach marketing for One Southern Indiana, which has been involved in the sale and new business development on the property.
“There is certainly a lot of potential here with this facility,” he said. “Local government has shown a willingness to partner and the state will certainly, on a project-by-project basis, will want to join in and partner in hopes of job creation and capital investment.”
Local members of government — Borden’s Town Council — were on hand for the official announcement of the sale Wednesday at the plant.
“Well, naturally, we’re really happy to have somebody coming in so we don’t have this big plant sitting here empty,” said Rudy Cook, president of the council. “We’re just happy to not have a closed plant in the middle of our downtown.”
The rest of the council agreed and were pleased that despite the downtrodden economy, the facility was able to be sold and readied for new business to come to Borden.
Three potential companies have had discussions with the business park to lease space at the facility, Koetter said.
“We have one that is interested in coming in that started out interested in about 80,000 feet of warehouse space,” he said. “They are thinking about bringing their primary manufacturing in, which would occupy approximately 180,000 [square] feet.”
Koetter declined to name any of the companies that are looking to lease space at the facility.
The 400,000-square-foot building is capable of holding up to seven or eight tenants, but the business park hopes to have four large renters to divide up the space. In addition to the amount of building space on the site, the former plant off Ind. 60 sits on nearly 17 acres of land. Nine separate buildings make up the facility that was rebuilt after a fire in 1962 destroyed the original Borden Cabinet building.
“The facility is actually in excellent condition and is set up well for what Kimball used it for, as well as what we intend to use it for — that is, as a business park,” Koetter said.
About two or three years ago, the complex received a complete refurbishing on the exterior, including a new roof. The most recent building was built in 1986.
Brandon Koetter, Rick Koetter’s son, is the leasing agent looking to fill the rest of the buildings with tenants.
The Koetters are making the business venture a family affair, also working with Rick’s wife, her daughters and other extended family members. While the Koetter family also owns and operates its own business — Koetter Woodworking — they have no plans at this time to occupy space at the new business park.
An auction is planned at Borden Business Park at 9 a.m. July 18 to sell items remaining after Kimball closed the plant. A public open house also is planned at the park from 12 to 4 p.m. Aug. 16.
ABOUT THE PLANT
• The 400,000-square-foot facility is capable of holding up to seven or eight tenants, but the business park hopes to have four large tenants to divide up the space. In addition to the amount of building space on the site, the property along Ind. 60 comprises nearly 17 acres of land.
SO YOU KNOW
• An auction is planned at Borden Business Park at 9 a.m. July 18 to sell items remaining after Kimball closed the plant.
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