ENDICOTT, NY – The Huron campus in Endicott has been sold to a Milwaukee-based industrial real estate company.
A group of local investors sold the old IBM plant to Phoenix Investors for $ 31 million.
IBM’s birthplace comprises 29 buildings spread over 130 hectares in the village.
Currently, over 28 hundred people are employed by tenants, including BAE Systems, IBM and more.
The complex has a total of 4 million square feet of interior space.
Phoenix has offered to retain much of Huron’s staff, including Senior Vice President Chris Pelto, who will continue to oversee day-to-day operations.
Phoenix Founder and Chairman Frank Crivello says his company’s primary focus and expertise is the redevelopment of large-scale industrial campuses.
Crivello says that while major renovations will be made to the buildings, including improvements to the facades, the structures themselves are healthy.
“The fact that the bones of this one are as strong as they are, we are really very excited about the opportunity they provide to continue to attract high quality companies. Chris and his team have done a tremendous job of attracting high quality businesses to this area, ”says Crivello.
Crivello says Phoenix has been working with current owners since the start of the year to attract new tenants, including lithium-ion battery maker Imperium 3 and solar panel maker Ubiquity Solar.
And he says Phoenix is well aware of the history of environmental contamination at the site.
Crivello thanks IBM for their work in cleaning up the toxic plume.
“When we are considering future uses of the property, we will always be mindful of the responsible practices of our tenants to ensure that there are no such kinds of issues in the future,” said Crivello.
Crivello says a name change will be announced during an official ribbon cutting in the spring.
Phoenix says he believes some of the old IBM buildings that have remained vacant at the northeast corner of North and McKinley since 2007 could be salvaged.
Crivello says the potential for tenants to develop research partnerships with Binghamton University and the supply of highly skilled workers from our area were 2 very attractive factors in their interest in the site.
