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The Cape Girardeau Dana plant,
formerly manufacturing automobile drive train components will be
transformed into a tire distribution center for Plaza Tire, Inc., the 28th
largest independently owned tire retailer in the United States.
Scott Rhodes, Cape Girardeau native
and vice president of the 44-year-old company, said in a prepared news
release that it plans to consolidate the distribution and headquarters
functions for its 49 stores in the 150,000-square-foot building at 2075
Corporate Circle. Plaza Tire Inc. was the high bidder in an
auction Thursday for Dana Corporation's vacated Cape Girardeau
manufacturing plant.
Tom Kelsey, commercial broker with
Lorimont Place, Ltd. who handled the real estate transaction
representing the seller, Dana Corporation, said that Plaza Tire's bid
edged out other buyers for the industrial building. Kelsey said the
intense interest in this industrial facility speaks well of the
property, Cape Girardeau and it's workforce. The broker did not disclose
any of the details of sale except the listed price of $2.7
million.
Purchasing the Dana property is an
opportunity to continue growing while keeping an important part of the
Plaza Tire business in Cape Girardeau, Rhodes said. The company has
about 100 employees in Cape Girardeau, and the move to the Dana building
will consolidate two locations currently used for distribution and
headquarters. About 70 employees will be stationed at the Dana
building.
Dana
Corporation began moving production from the Cape Girardeau plant to
Mexico earlier this year after seeking protection from the federal
bankruptcy court in New York. The sale Thursday was part of the attempt
to maximize those payments.
The Lorimont broker said the
industrial market in the Southeast Missouri region has been on an
upswing within the last 24 months with 10 properties representing nearly
1.5 million square feet of manufacturing and warehouse facilities sold
or leased by his company alone.
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