DANA PLANT SOLD TO CAPE TIRE DISTRIBUTOR
2075 Corporate Circle, Cape Girardeau, Missouri
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.
|
