Injection molder Par 4 Plastics Inc. plans to reopen a closed Tyco International Ltd. plant in Marion, Ky. Meanwhile, Tyco is preparing to close a film facility in Florida.
Par 4 purchased the former Tyco building for $650,000 from the city of Marion, after a sale engineered last week between local city and county officials and executives with Pembroke, Bermuda-based Tyco.
Tyco had closed the 113,000-square-foot electrical-relay plant in spring 2000, leaving about 305 people in a city of 3,500 residents without jobs. The plant, more than 30 years old, had been owned by Tyco for less than a year.
``It was quite a blow to the community,'' said Marion Mayor Mick Alexander. ``When we found out Par 4 was interested in it, we put the deal together. Tyco had originally asked a lot more for it but ended up reducing the price on the building.''
In a maneuver done to provide tax advantages to Tyco, the city paid $1.65 million for the former Tyco Electronics building. Tyco made a tax-deductible donation to the city for $1 million of that amount and took a write-down on its books, Alexander said. The city then sold the building to Par 4 on Feb. 22.
The site will be Marion-based Par 4's second facility, both located in the same industrial park. The plant will open in two or three months, Par 4 President Joe McDaniel said. The company still is determining plans and employment needs at the building.
Par 4 will use the new plant to provide value-added operations to its customers, many of which are in the automotive industry, McDaniel said.
``Changes are taking place in the automotive world, and cost has become so very important,'' McDaniel said. ``Our current building is about full, and we found a well-maintained building in excellent shape.''
Par 4, a maker of interior parts and exterior lighting for several carmakers, works from an existing 55,000-square-foot building that it moved into in 1999. The custom molder also produces consumer products and construction parts.
With the acquisition, Par 4 expects sales to grow 25-35 percent in 2000, after the molder ended 2001 with close to $11 million in sales, McDaniel said.
Tyco also plans to shift work from a processing facility in Riviera Beach, Fla., to other plants in the southeastern United States, said Tyco spokeswoman Maryanne Kane. That plant will close by mid-April, according to information the company filed with the state of Florida. The plant employs 40, said Kane, who is based at Tyco U.S. headquarters in Exeter, N.H.
``With a facility that small, it is more efficient and cost-effective to work from a larger, more fully integrated facility,'' Kane said. ``The work will move elsewhere.''
The building was formerly the headquarters of Mohawk Plastics, a maker of polyethylene films and bags that Tyco acquired in 2000. In December, Tyco announced plans to close the former Mohawk's only other facility, in Bernardston, Mass.
Tyco plans to sell off its plastics and adhesives operations - including a large number of film and sheet plants - and hopes to fetch upwards of $3 billion. The company expects to find a buyer by mid-April but has not announced potential candidates, Kane said.
Several industry sources familiar with the Tyco sale said last week that no outside company had made a bid yet.
In a Feb. 19 conference call to investors, Tyco Chairman and Chief Executive Officer L. Dennis Kozlowski said the company was making solid progress but would not rush the assets out the door.
