Van Buren, NY -- The big, vacant former Syroco Inc. plant is about to find new life with a fast-growing plastics company from Elbridge. Tessy Plastics Corp. agreed in April to buy the 270,000-square-foot Syroco plant at 7528 State Fair Blvd., Van Buren, for $3.2 million. Tessy plans to put the building back into use as a distribution and...
Tessy Plastics Corp. of Elbridge has agreed to buy the former Syroco plant on State Fair Boulevard in Van Buren for $3.2 million.
Van Buren, NY -- The big, vacant former Syroco Inc. plant is about to find new life with a fast-growing plastics company from Elbridge.
Tessy Plastics Corp. agreed in April to buy the 270,000-square-foot Syroco plant at 7528 State Fair Blvd., Van Buren, for $3.2 million. Tessy plans to put the building back into use as a distribution and warehouse facility and might also use it for some manufacturing.
Syroco, a maker of plastic casual furniture and wall decorations, closed in June 2007, putting 154 local employees out of work. Its facility, one of the largest buildings in Van Buren, has sat vacant since the closing.
But Tessy has told Onondaga County and town officials it is acquiring the building to address its need for more manufacturing space.
County Legislator Kathy Rapp, chairwoman of the legislature’s Planning and Economic Development Committee, said Tessy plans to move its distribution and warehousing operations from Route 5, in Elbridge, to the Syroco building, freeing space at its Elbridge site for manufacturing.
Tessy makes plastic components for a consumer, medical and automotive products. It employs 570 people.
In 2009, Tessy obtained a major contract to make containers for Procter & Gamble Co., a consumer products giant that sells Pampers, Tide, Bounty, Pringles, Charmin, Downy, Crest and Olay — and has $77 billion in annual sales.
Tessy is completing a 90,000-square-foot addition to its Elbridge plant, an $11 million investment, to handle the new work, but even that won’t give it enough manufacturing space, Rapp said.
The company has requested state Empire Zone status for the Van Buren operation. The Planning and Economic Development Committee voted May 10 to recommend approval. The full legislature is expected to vote on the request June 1. It then would go to the state for approval.
Tessy must create 50 jobs at the facility to receive the state tax credits available under the Empire Zone program. Tessy’s plant in Elbridge is in such a zone. The Empire Zone program is scheduled to end by July, but sites admitted into the program before then are eligible for the full run of benefits.
Contact Rick Moriarty at rmoriarty@syracuse.com or (315) 470-3148.