CITY OF LOCKPORT
Recycling business gets break on its loan
LOCKPORT — A company that makes products from recycled tires was given a break on its delinquent loan Thursday by the city’s development agency.
The Greater Lockport Development Corp. board voted to let Rubberform Recycled Products make interest-only payments for the rest of this year. The Michigan Street company hadn’t made a loan payment of any kind since March, Community Development Director William J. Evert said.
Company President Bill Robbins said the move will reduce the company’s payments from $3,280 a month to about $600.
Evert said the company is expected to make the interest payments retroactively for March through August.
Robbins said the company is still manufacturing daily and employs eight or nine people. He said the company’s sales and distributor network have been slower to take shape than expected when the company opened in 2006.
The city agency lent the company $225,000, obtained through a state grant. As of July 31, it still owed $204,517.
The Niagara County Industrial Development Agency lent Rubberform $50,000. Evert said the city agency and the IDA will share second lien position on the company’s assets.
“We didn’t get enough funding initially to get all our molds,” Robbins said. He said the company is seeking a second round of financing to add playground borders, speed bumps and curb ramps to its product line next year. At present, it makes sign bases and parking lot wheel stops.
Robbins said sales of the wheel stops have been hurt because of competition from a Canadian company subsidized by the Quebec government. He also said sales of rubber sidewalks, made under a contract from a California company, also have been slower than hoped.
“Business is picking up. We’re getting more sales every month,” Robbins said.
On other topics, the agency awarded a $589,787 contract to Centimark Corp., a national firm with a Buffalo office, to replace the roofs on Buildings 1 and 2 at Harrison Place, the former Harrison Radiator plant controlled by a taxable entity set up by the city.
But Corporation Counsel John J. Ottaviano suggested skipping plans to repair the roofs on Buildings 3 and 4.
“Maybe 1 and 2 are enough. A couple of those buildings have to come down. The project’s too big,” he said.
Mayor Michael W. Tucker said a decision has to be made on whether to demolish some of the buildings.
“We’re not going to put a roof on something we’re taking down,” he said.
Thomas Mancuso, the site manager, said there are 24 active tenants, most of them in Buildings 1 and 2. He said the roof work will start in September and take about three months.
Mancuso said the leaky roof has held back efforts to lease space to companies.
He said to save money, the electricity is being turned off in some unleased areas of the complex, although the ownership entity, 210 Walnut LLC, did receive a $30,000 school tax refund after having the plant’s assessment reduced.
