CCPA OKs $2.3M Sale of Its Headquarters to Haltec

LEETONIA, Ohio — After less than four months in its new headquarters, the board of the Columbiana County Port Authority Monday approved the sale of two lots, including its headquarters at 120 Industry St., in the World Trade Park to Haltec Corp.

The $2,310,150 purchase by Haltec Corp., a supplier of tire management and inflation solutions for a variety of industries, will allow the company to streamline its manufacturing processes, expand its research and development capacity, and allow for future growth of manufacturing and distribution in Columbiana County.

“It appears the Columbiana County Port Authority is on the move,” said Penny Traina, executive director of the Port Authority, at the board meeting. “Since 2008, this building has never been fully occupied. To see this entire building full and the parking lot full will be wonderful.”

“The World Trade Park is ideal for Haltec to expand,” states a press release from the company, which cites the park as a foreign trade zone, and notes it sits two miles from state Route 11 and eight miles from Interstates 76 and 80.

The purchase is for approximately 17 acres of land in the park and includes lot nine, where the port authority building is, and lot eight, which is vacant land.

The building is approximately 19,445 square feet, Traina said. Humtown Products, which is also housed in the building, will remain there.

Haltec’s 45,000-square-foot manufacturing and distribution facility in Butler Township will be maintained by the company.

The transaction with the port authority is expected to close within 90 days.

In the meantime, the port authority will work in tandem with the Columbiana County Economic Development Department as the two entities move into a new headquarters building.

At the meeting, the port authority board approved the $758,050 purchase of the building at 7860 Lincole Place in Lisbon for its new headquarters.

“Although we’ve been very busy in Leetonia, I think we’ll see more of an increase in traffic here,” Traina said.

The Lisbon building is 14,250 square feet with the lower-level occupied by the Community Action Agency of Columbiana County.

The port authority and the Columbiana County Economic Development Department will occupy the first-floor, which has sat vacant since the Mahoning and Columbiana Training Association moved out in 2013.

“It centralizes us between the agencies and others in the county government in Lisbon,” said Charlie Presley, chairman of the board. “And it gets us into a nice building in a good location.”

At the meeting, the board also approved the sale, for $497,850, of lots one, two, three, four, 16 and 21 in the World Trade Park to Pennex Aluminum Co.

Pennex occupies lots five, 17, 18, 19 and 20 in the industrial park and with the expansion will own more than 35 acres.

“To have them [Pennex] expand is wonderful and to have them have the confidence in the port [authority] and this park to expand with says a lot,” Presley said.

Mark Mantooth, president of Pennex Aluminum, said his company expects to hire 48 new employees with the expansion.

“We already have a facility there that employs about 180 people today,” he said. “We’re expanding that business, which serves the automotive and precision engineering markets.”

“Pennex has been great to work with and we’ll be working with them on all the economic development tools that are available,” Traina said. “It’s a lot of jobs, it’s a lot of expansion and it’s good to see that the park will be filled with a lot of people.”

Pictured: An overhead view of the building at 120 Industry St. in Leetonia.

Copyright 2024 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.