Parker-Hannifin plant sale may be near

The Parker-Hannifin plant in Wake Forest may be be sold or leased in the near future, several sources say.

It will be easier to sell or lease the facility, sources say, because P-H has agreed to indemnify the new owner or lessor for the costs of cleaning up chemical pollution on the site, a problem P-H inherited when it purchased the plant in 1991.

P-H spends a reported $150,000 a year to remove trichloroethylene, a volative solvent, from the soil and groundwater. The company has undertaken an environmental survey that may help pinpoint the future costs of remediation.

Jim Cartwright, head of public relations for P-H, would only say, "We are continuing to seek opportunities for productive future uses for the plant."

The Wake Forest commissioners and others have raised questions about the future of the plant because it is viewed as a town asset although it is owned by the Wake Forest Industrial Commission.

P-H moved most manufacturing from the plant earlier this year, although it still has some employees and operates at least one assembly line to live up to the terms of its lease.

The building and the 34 acres it sits on are owned by the IDC, which was formed in 1964 to provide a means of financing the facility for A. Schrader Brothers. The commission issued bonds which Schrader paid off during the next 20 years.

In 1984, when the land and building were to revert to the town, the town declined to accept them, preferring to benefit from the property taxes. In 2001, the company paid $42,547 in property taxes to the town.

The IDC retained ownership and worked out a new lease with what was then called Schrader-Bellows. Since the company had already paid for the land and building, IDC member John Rich said, the lease called for $1,000 rent a month. P-H inherited the lease agreement when it purchased Scovill, the parent company of Schrader-Bellows.

The lease is for 20 years, renewable annually by the company.

"Parker wants to sell the property and is actively marketing it," Rich said. "Parker knows it cannot sell the property outright, that the IDC will have to join in any sale and that any sale must be on terms satisfactory to the IDC." There have been no formal proposals thus far, he added.

Rich said the IDC has maintained a passive role. For 16 years, its only function was to collect the monthly rent. Of that, $10,000 went to the town for economic development activities and $2,000 went into the bank for a rainy day fund, collecting about $80,000 so far.

Mark Fleming, director of the chamber of commerce, said he was disappointed when he learned in April the chamber would not receive the money. Since 1999 it has been used to help fund the economic development office headed by Stephen Barrington, an office with a budget of $100,000.

The IDC was set up with five directors but there are only two now, Rich and John Wooten Jr. There was no point in adding people to just hand on the checks, Rich said.