Distribution Center to Open in Former GE Building in Austintown
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – A New York-based company that supplies plastic bags to major retail, grocery store and fast-food chains plans to open a distribution center next month in the former General Electric coil plant building in Austintown.
North Meridian LLC and WM 49 RE LLC purchased the 124,285-square-foot building at 280 N. Meridian Road for $1.5 million, records from the Mahoning County auditor’s office show.
GE closed the Austintown coil and Niles glass plants in 2008.
The entities are affiliated with RediBagUSA, which is headquartered in Garden City Park, N.Y.
RediBagUSA plans to use the building for central distribution of its products, CEO Jeffrey Rabiea said. The distribution center will be the 10th for the company, which already operates facilities locally in Hubbard and Sharon, Pa. Its customers include McDonald’s, Kroger, Target and Walmart.
“We supply the nation’s largest supermarkets and quick-serve restaurants with our products, so we are on an expansion trend right now. It made sense to open another facility in the Hubbard area,” Rabiea said. “This was available, and we decided to take a look at it and we purchased it.
“It’s central to the country, so it makes sense for us,” he added.
The company is in the process of wiring, installing WiFi and racking the entire building, he said. He anticipated beginning operations in the building in four to five weeks.
The North Meridian plant will have 15 employees, he said.
Copyright 2024 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.
