|
Building's new owners extend lease for Hart & Cooley ,
Editorial,
The Holland Sentinel , Holland, Michigan, September 19, 2006
The new owners of the Hart & Cooley property on East Eighth Street have extended a lease to the longtime manufacturer of heating, ventilation and cooling equipment and are working with township officials to determine the property's long-term future.
Third Coast Development, co-owned by Brad Rosely and Dave Levitt, purchased the property in July for $5.2 million, Holland Township records show.
Hart & Cooley has been headquartered in the Holland area for about 80 years and built the first portion of the 685,700-square-foot operating facility in 1924. Hart & Cooley, purchased in 1999 by Tomkins PLC of London, England, announced in May it would be moving from Holland by 2008.
"Right now, what we're trying to do is work with the township and with the lakeshore economic development group (Lakeshore Advantage) to figure out what's best for the area," Rosely said. "Whether that stays a manufacturing warehouse or becomes something else is up in the air right now.
"We feel it's very critical to get local input and support and allow that to factor in to how the land will be used," he said.
The property is made up of seven adjacent parcels at 500 E. Eighth St., east of Fairbanks Avenue and west of U.S. 31. The property has about 500 parking spaces, a dozen loading docks and a pair of drive-in bays.
Randy Kirby, a spokesman for Hart & Cooley, has said about 150 managers and researchers will move to new headquarters in the Grand Rapids area, while the estimated 150 manufacturing jobs will be sent to the company's other facilities in the United States and Mexico.
By PATRICK REVERE Business editor
© 2006 Holland Sentinel. Used with permission
|
