Former Mill's Pride facility sold, with hopes of new jobs

The former Mill's Pride cabinet factory in Waverly has been purchased by a group of investors who may bring more jobs to the region.

When Mill's Pride close two years ago, approximately 1,200 jobs were lost in Pike and neighboring counties. Pike County's unemployment rate (almost 12 percent) remains among the highest in the state.

The Columbus Dispatch reported this week that "real estate development partners Christopher Semarjian, who runs Industrial Commerce Ltd., in Macedonia near Cleveland, and Stuart Lichter, who heads Industrial Realty Group, in Downey near Los Angeles, and a third partner bought the former Mill’s Pride plant from Michigan-based Masco Corp. for $5 million."

The property includes 57 acres and 11 buildings.

According to the Dispatch, Lichter said that he couldn’t predict how many companies would lease or buy space at the large industrial property or how many jobs they would bring. But based on his experience in adapting other idled factory buildings for reuse, the Waverly project should be successful, he said.

For more information, go to www.dispatch.com.