Warehouse in Albion sees major transformation

By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 16 July 2015 at 12:00 am

Photos by Tom Rivers

A warehouse on McKinstry Street in Albion, which has sat mostly vacant for more than a decade, has been repainted with extensive renovations as the site is upgraded for electronics recycling.

This photo shows the warehouse in April 2013.

ALBION – For about a decade, a warehouse on McKinstry Street sat vacant as local economic development officials tried to find a user for the site.

A Canadian company bought the property about two years ago and BOMET Recycling, Inc. has given the building a major transformation, with more work to come, including a new roof.

“It’s like a renaissance,” said Jim Whipple, chief executive officer for the Orleans Economic Development Agency. “They’ve really put a lot of effort into it.”

BOMET Recycling bought and upgraded the warehouse with plans to turn it into a base for recycling electronics. The company painted it to blend with the site next door used by CRFS.

Whipple shared photos of the offices and interior of the building with the EDA board of directors last week. He praised BOMET for all of the work at the 52,000-square-foot building.

BOMET has three people working from the site now, Whipple said. When the company bought the site in Albion, it said it planned to have 30 employees at the site when it was fully up in running.

The EDA purchased the warehouse and adjoining parking lot for $527,000 in February 2002. At that time Washington Mutual was in expansion mode in Albion. The company needed lots of parking, and some local officials hoped WaMu would quickly run out of space at the former Dime Bank complex on East Avenue.

But that never happened. WaMu was acquired by JP Morgan Chase, which left Albion in 2013.

The EDA sold the property for $176,000 to BOMET, which is based in Cambridge, Ontario. The sale returned the property to the tax rolls in the Village of Albion.

The EDA is hopeful that Zhan “Bo” Zhang, leader of BOMET, will provide testimonials about the work of the EDA with the company, which the EDA could use to help recruit other Canadian companies to Orleans County.