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Weatherford Silent on Its Plans for Youngstown Site
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – Local development officials could shed little information Monday on Weatherford International's plans for the Polyair building it acquired last week, but were pleased to learn of the building's impending reuse.
Details remain scarce within the development community regarding the Swiss company's purchase of the Polyair property, at 1100 Performance Place. Weatherford Artificial Lift Systems Inc., an affiliate of Geneva-based Weatherford International, completed the transaction April 25, paying $3.4 million for the manufacturing site (READ PREVIOUS STORY).
Weatherford is one of the largest oilfield services companies in the world operating in more than 100 countries and employing more than 50,000 people worldwide. Company literature shows Weatherford Artificial Lift Systems focuses on oilfield products and services for extracting oil and gas. “Our specialists carefully analyze well data, system characteristics, equipment capabilities, related costs and other critical factors to design a lift system providing maximum performance and return on investment,” states a company brochure.
On Monday, Weatherford spokeswoman Melanie Kania was offsite and unable to provide project details. In March, she confirmed the company was scouting “several” potential locations in the area and was performing due diligence on the sites. She could not say what kind of operation the company would be locating here or how many employees it planned to hire locally, but that the facility would cover “multiple product lines.”
T. Sharon Woodberry, city economic development director, said she was made aware of the discussions involving the Polyair building, located in the city’s Performance Place Industrial Park, about two months ago. The city had provided cleanup money for the site “so questions needed to be answered about the real estate component of it,” she said. The company has not contacted the city regarding its intentions for the property, which has been vacant for a couple of years, nor has it sought any incentives.
“It’s obviously a great thing to have the company come to the city,’ she remarked, not only because of the jobs that will be created but by putting a vacant property into productive use.
Officials from the Youngstown/Warren Regional Chamber echoed Woodberry’s sentiments.
“We are very pleased to have Weatherford expand in the Mahoning Valley,” said Sarah Boyarko, the chamber’s vice president for economic development, retention and expansion. She confirmed that the chamber has been in contact with Weatherford representatives on “several occasions” but they were not interested in utilizing any state or local incentives.
“We are absolutely delighted that Weatherford chose to locate in the city of Youngstown,” said Eric Planey, vice president, international business attraction, for the chamber. Its stationing in the city is “another sign of the true economic impact” that the oil and gas industry will have on the area, including the creation of well-paying jobs, he said.
Weatherford’s purchase of the Polyair building was just one of the area industrial property acquisitions that came to light Monday. Additionally, the chamber announced that developer Chris Semarjian had purchased the former Main Street Polishing Co. building, 3805 Hendricks Road, Austintown.
The 264,300-square-foot Austintown industrial building has amenities attractive to a variety of industrial users including high ceilings, more than 20 cranes and rail access, Boyarko said.
Copyright 2012 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.