The entrance to the former Eastman Kodak manufacturing plant at 1 Grace St. in Middleway is shown. Commercial Liability Partners WV, LLC, recently purchased the plant and will clean the site so it can be sold in the future.
MIDDLEWAY, W.Va. — Although the former Eastman Kodak manufacturing plant in Middleway closed its doors nine years ago, the facility has recently been acquired by Commercial Liability Partners WV LLC – and may become a productive industrial site again in the future.
Commercial Liability Partners WV LLC is a St. Louis, Missouri-based firm that specializes in the acquisition and remediation of brownfield properties like the former Kodak plant.
For more than 60 years, various companies, including 3M, used the plant, located at 1 Grace St. in Middleway, for manufacturing related to the printing industry.
At one time, approximately 300 workers were employed at the plant, which closed in 2006 following the Eastman Kodak Company’s venture into the digital graphics market.
CLP is developing a plan to clean up the 270-acre, 325,000-square foot property with the ultimate goal of selling it to another business for use in the future.
“We’re working with the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection to agree upon a plan for the site,” said Tim Lamp, CFO of CLP. “We need to figure out what’s going on at the site and what’s required to clean it up.”
According to a statement by Ron Froh, president of CLP, industrial sites often have environmental issues associated with them.
“CLP’s redevelopment efforts and environmental mitigation plans will not only allow the (former Kodak) property to be adaptively re-used for manufacturing, it will also continue to protect a valuable water resource and public health in the Middleway area of Jefferson County,” said John Reisenweber, executive director of the Jefferson County Development Authority.
Lamp said the property has good potential for re-use once CLP’s work is done.
“Structurally, the building is in excellent shape,” he said. “The high ceilings could make for attractive office space.”
Lamp did not wish to disclose the dollar amount of the sale.
– Staff writer Mary Stortstrom can be reached at 304-725-6581 or www.twitter.com/mstortstromJN.
