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Monday, July 12, 2004
ROB CLARK
THE BAY CITY TIMES
BAY CITY -- A water bottling company with a $30 million military
contract likely will begin operating in Monitor Township by year's
end.
Premier Manufacturing has signed a five-year lease on the former
United Technologies Automotive building, 5300 Mackinaw, said owner
Marva J. Morris.
Morris did not disclose terms of the lease.
The Detroit businesswoman said she has ordered $3 million worth of
equipment from a Japan-based manufacturer.
Once in place, Premier Manufacturing expects to produce 3 million
bottles of water per week.
Shay Water Co., 320 W. Bristol in Saginaw, will work in partnership
with Premier Manufacturing, said owner James Shay.
Shay Water will clean the bottles, fill them with purified Bay City
municipal water, cap the bottles and ship them.
"We're still in the throes of pulling all the pieces together, but
we are moving forward," said Morris, who announced news of the plant
in March and originally expected to start operations by the end of
summer.
She described Premier Manufacturing as a second-tier supplier, which
means a different company secured the original bottled water
contract. She declined to name that company.
Timothy J. Cherry, vice president of sales and marketing, said the
water is for the U.S. Department of Defense and will eventually make
its way to troops in the Middle East.
Clifford C. VanDyke, president of the Bay County Growth Alliance and
vice chairman of the Monitor Township Downtown Development
Authority, said the contract is tied to Halliburton Co.
Halliburton is an oil field services company and a provider of
engineering and construction services that also is the general
contractor for the rebuilding of post-war Iraq.
"This absolutely fits what we've been trying to accomplish with this
building," VanDyke said. "The Growth Alliance has been targeting a
company focused on plastics manufacturing and specialty
manufacturing since the mid-1980s. Those two segments of industry
are perfect for Bay County."
Cherry said the company has hired several key employees to help get
it off the ground. The company is not accepting applications at this
time, he said.
Morris said earlier the company likely will need more than 90
employees working in three shifts.
Shay said his business will probably need an additional 50
employees.
Morris and Cherry said the water bottling operation may represent
just the tip of the iceberg.
Morris owns Detroit-based Premier Manufacturing Group, which
produces blow-molded plastic containers.
She said the Monitor Township plant eventually will have $9 million
worth of equipment and a bottle manufacturing operation.
Cherry previously said additional business could come from companies
such as PepsiCo., Coca-Cola Co., Faygo Beverages Inc. and Proctor &
Gamble Co.
Morris said she also plans to buy the 136,000-square-foot building,
which sits on nearly 20 acres next to the Valley Center Technology
Park. The building has remained mostly vacant since UTA closed in
late 1998.
West Michigan C.D.L. Inc., a Grandville-based truck-driver training
school, rents one office inside the building on a month-to-month
basis and uses the parking lot to the south of the building for
instruction.
The building is owned by 5300 Mackinaw Road, an investment group
that bought the property two years ago for about $2.95 million. The
group is headed by Ian W. Schonsheck, owner of Schonsheck Inc., a
design, construction and land development company based in Wixom.
Investment group member Mark F. Pumford, who owns Pumford
Construction Inc. of Kochville Township and Gregory Construction Co.
of Bay City, said the former UTA building is "a fantastic class-A
facility" that is "so clean that you could eat off the floor."
The building has an assessed value of about $1.5 million. t
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