MCRA approves lease of currently vacant wood products plant buildings.

Bruce justice (Mingo Messenger e Feb 13, 2022

After sitting vacant for nearly five years following Mohawk Flooring shutting down operations at the James H. Harless Industrial Park in May 2017, the Mingo County Redevelopment Authority has approved a lease agreement for the use of the largest of the wood products buildings as well as for one of its smaller buildings.

Having always held ownership of the land on which the buildings stand and for which it received lease payments from Mohawk Flooring during the company’s years of operation there, the MCRA didn’t have ownership of the flooring plant buildings until acquiring them from the company in October 2019.

The Board of Directors unanimously approved the lease agreement between Coal-Mac and the Redevelopment Authority during last week’s MCRA meeting.

During her report to the board, Executive Director Leasha Johnson said a smaller available building at the industrial park could possibly also be leased to another company — J.P. Technical Services at Belo — in the upcoming days once company officials make a final determination on which of the available smaller buildings they want to lease.

Having become the retailer for two coal supply companies that no longer are in Mingo County, Johnson said J.P. Technical services is expanding beyond their current operational footprint at one location along U.S. 119 at Belo and at another along W.Va. 65.

She said the company has shown interest in the former Intertractor America Corporation building at the industrial park, mainly because it is essentially move-in ready.

“They first looked at the main warehouse and then the stacker building, as well as the additional two warehouse spaces we have there,” she said. “But Jonathan, as the owner, is concerned about the cost of expanding into those properties.

“However, I really anticipate he’ll eventually decide on the Intertractor building because it fits his needs for expansion and at the same time allows him to keep his main operation at Belo.”

Johnson said Coal-Mac had previously leased the Intertractor building as an operational base for the company’s new coal trucking enterprise.

However, after reconsideration company officials decided that the larger flooring plant building, along with the former goods warehouse building, better suited their needs.

Johnson said Coal-Mac officials have already employed 30 new workers to start the trucking business, with the expectation of employing more people upon getting the business up and fully running.

“Because they’re doing so much (at the Industrial Park) on their existing lease, they have also asked to lease the former finished goods warehouse, which is 19,000 square feet, so this coal lease agreement I provided for your information is for both of those buildings — the 19,000 square feet warehouse and the 101,000 square feet plant building,” she said.