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maryville Daily
Volume 104 • Number 84
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Thursday, May 1, 2014
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Online at:
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maryvilledailyforum.com
PO Box 188 • 111 E. Jenkins • Maryville, MO
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CMC plant sold for $3 million By TONY BROWN News editor
After a half-hour delay for a conference call involving attorneys and bankers regarding what turned out to be the winning bid, the vacant Carbolytic Materials Company plant at 600 Wilson Industrial Road on the eastern edge of Maryville sold at auction shortly before noon Wednesday for $2.72 million. Fees, commissions and other costs brought the total purchase price for the defunct plant up to $3 million. No other bids were submitted, and several buyers left as staff members from Maas Companies Inc. of Rochester, Minn., called repeatedly for a $2.75 million offer. There were no takers, forcing the auctioneer to bang an outsized gavel and end the sale moments after it began. The bid was for both the 24,000-square-foot plant and all of its fittings, fixtures and equipment. The factory was built in 2009 and designed to extract carbon black and other materials from scrap tires. Carbon black is a reinforcing and coloring agent used in the manufacture of synthetic rubber and plastics. Mark Greenley of Pulaski Bank in St. Louis, which held the CMC building and grounds in receivership after CMC went bankrupt, identified the buyer as Advanced Processes Inc. of Ambridge, Pa.
According to its website, Advanced Processes “provides integrated equipment, system, and process solutions for material handling, agglomeration, mineral processing, fertilizer production, waste recovery, waste to energy, and related operations.” Prior to the auction, the equipment inside the factory was held in receivership by Advantage Capital Partners. The fact that the building and equipment were purchased as a unit is an indicator that API plans to put the plant back into production, and Nodaway County Economic Development Director Josh McKim said the sale was precisely the type of acquisition he was hoping for. “Absolutely. We’re very excited about that,” McKim said. “That is what would be best for us, to get this plant back up and running and operational.” Greenley said that as far as he is aware the sale clears CMC’s obligations to its creditors. However, the impact of the auction on Nodaway County, which has sued the defunct company in an attempt to recover around $350,000 in back taxes is still unclear. County Collector-Treasurer Marilyn Jenkins, who was at the sale, said the lawsuit is set for trial Monday morning in Nodaway County Circuit Court. The suit was filed against a corporation owned by a group of St. Louis investors headed by Ray
TONY BROWN/DAILY FORUM
What am I bid?
A Maas Companies staff member seeks vainly for a higher bid Wednesday during an auction to sell the building, grounds and equipment of the former CMC scrap tire processing plant east of Maryville. The auction elicited a single bid, called in just before the sale began. In lieu of another offer, the factory and its contents were reportedly sold to Advanced Processes Inc. for a total of $3 million. Riek, who brought CMC to town in 2008 amid much talk of goodpaying jobs and economic growth. That growth was to be fueled, CMC officials said at the time, by the company’s “proprietary technology” designed to chemically “crack” shredded automotive tires in order to produce marketable gas, fuel oil and carbon black. Northwest Missouri State University, and then-President Dean Hubbard, played a large role in recruiting the start-up firm, which was to base its “research and development” operation at the newly built Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship.
But the high hopes didn’t last long. Soon after the plant was completed, local merchants and suppliers were complaining that CMC didn’t pay its bills. According to county officials, the delinquent taxes were the result of a misunderstanding over a tax abatement package hammered together by Nodaway County Economic Development and awarded to CMC when it first came to town. Company executives reportedly assumed the abatement covered all property taxes, when, in fact, it was only intended to forgive around 15 cents per $100 of assessed valuation that is the only tax Nodaway
County proper collects. The real bill was closer to $7 per $100 of assessed valuation and included levies that provide revenue for Maryville R-II Schools, the County Health Center, the Nodaway County Senior Center, Polk Township and other public and non-profit entities. The auction was originally scheduled for March 26 but was delayed a month by Maas in hopes of selling the building, grounds and machinery as a single lot, which is in fact what happened, though the winning bid was not submitted until moments before the sale began.
Fourth Street corridor project becoming reality By JIM FALL
Executive editor
JIM FALL/DAILY FORUM
Landmark to be removed
This billboard fronting West Fourth Street near the Buchanan Street intersection, which over the years has sported a variety of images — notably the Marlboro Man — is coming down as a result of an agreement between the city of Maryville and the First Christian Church.
The city of Maryville has secured easements necessary for a planned $1.4-million streetscape and repaving project along West Fourth Street between the courthouse square and Northwest Missouri State University. Construction is expected to begin on the five-block stretch of roadway in early June. Maryville City Manager Greg McDanel said this week bids would be opened at 2 p.m. May 20. Barring complications, the City Council will be asked to ap-
prove a contractor at its May 28 meeting. McDanel said 27 different easements were secured within a two-month period that will allows the redesign and beautification project to move forward. “Most of the easements are to permit access to the various properties for temporary construction,” McDanel said. One tract was acquired outright by the city at the northeast corner of West Fourth and North Buchanan. The approximately quarterblock lot was formerly occupied by Bagby Motors. See FOURTH, Page 6
Downtown billboard giving way to progress By JIM FALL
Executive editor
The Joy Wok Super Buffet and Sushi now promotes itself using a billboard that once touted the
Marlboro Man and the hottest cold beer Anheuser-Busch had to offer. But the former cigarette sign is about to ride off into the sunset. The Maryville City Council this week approved a one-time,
$12,000 payment to the First Christian Church of Maryville and will tear down the 25-foot-tall sign that rises above the northwestern corner of downtown. The billboard, owned by La-
OFFICE NUMBER
660-562-2424
INSIDE
mar Advertising and leased to the church since it acquired the land once occupied by Jerry Dew’s Conoco service station, will be removed before May 1, 2015, according to terms of the buy-out
Record....................... 2 News................ 3, 6, 12 Opinion..................... 4
Agriculture............... 5 Sports.................... 7, 8 Classifieds......... 10, 11
agreement with the church. Terms of the agreement could allow the church to provide a 60day cancellation notice, and the billboard could be removed earli-
See BILLBOARD, Page 6
OUTSIDE
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