Firestone plant draws Kansas buyer
The Journal Record
December 20, 2007

OKLAHOMA CITY – A Kansas-based industrial property development company plans to purchase the shuttered Bridgestone Firestone tire manufacturing plant in Oklahoma City Thursday for an undisclosed amount.

Big Industrial LLC plans to renovate and subdivide the more than 2 million-square-foot former tire manufacturing plant at 2500 S. Council Rd. and target industrial warehouse, distribution or general manufacturing tenants.

The company, with holdings in Kansas, Missouri, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Arizona, Texas and Florida, specializes in acquiring vacant or underutilized industrial properties to restore and update the properties and lease and operate the spaces.

The principals of Big Industrial are Daniel E. Smith and Fred N. Coulson.“The Bridgestone Firestone property has some very unique advantages, including being in the rapidly growing primary industrial corridor in Oklahoma City near the crossroads of I-35 and I-40,” Smith said. “We expect to attract businesses from not only Oklahoma but across the country with more than 2 million square feet of industrial space that can be finished for individual company requirements.”

Built in 1969, the plant has made several brands of tires over the years. It fell dark late last year affecting about 1,700 jobs. But the new buyer does not mean the building immediately has new tenants. Several Oklahoma City industrial real estate experts weighed in on the merits and challenges the sale will present for the local market.

Randy Lacey, with Grubb & Ellis Levy Beffort, said the concept of subdividing a large industrial space is something completely new that could be a positive for Oklahoma City. “I think it’s a really good sign that an out-of-state buyer of large buildings is willing to come here and take the risk of buying a very large manufacturing facility in hopes of restructuring it to accommodate multiple tenants,” he said. “This is all uncharted ground here, but these guys are really good at this and specialize in these kinds of deals.”

Brett Price, with Sperry Van Ness Oklahoma, said the move reflects a market that is strong with low vacancy rates in the industrial sector. “They’re coming into the market at a good time,” he said. “Our overall vacancy is low and it doesn’t show any signs of slowing.”But John Lenochan, with CB Richard Ellis Oklahoma, said he is concerned that even with the sale the space will still be vacant and that there may not be enough bulk users to absorb the space right away.“Unfortunately it’s just another vacant parcel,” Lenochan said. “But it’s my understanding that they are very aggressive in getting leasing done and will do maybe below-market deals to get their space filled up.

”Lenochan said the velocity in the local market is generally under 70,000 square feet for most tenants, but the new owners could draw some national attention from entities not currently in this market.

The Bridgestone Firestone plant joined the Lucent Technologies building and the General Motors plant in closing in recent years, leaving millions of square feet of industrial space vacant at former manufacturing facilities around Oklahoma City.

A group led by Terryl Zerby, of Zerby Interests, purchased the Lucent plant and rumors are that the GM plant may eventually be acquired by Tinker Air Force Base. Nevertheless, Lacey said the Bridgestone building purchase could provide momentum and hope for finding new uses for large vacant industrial properties in the local market.“Any time you have a big building sitting vacant it’s not good,” Lacey said. “It underlies some of the confidence we have in the market right now for absorbing properties When there are big chunks of space sitting around vacant it’s not ideal but this is really, really positive, there’s nothing negative about it.”