Fifteen years after the last jobs left, there's activity at the former Guilford Mills plant in Cobleskill.
Mill Services, which bought the plant last year, has four tenants--and is looking for more.
Jamie Place and Dan Holt, who own Mill Services, formed Aker's Industrial Development, a limited liability company that's managing the old factory.
Workers put up a large sign at the plant last week, and it lists four tenants: Backyard Outfitters, Get Hooked Kickboxing, Mill Services and Kelley Farm & Garden.
Not all of the tenants are in yet. Some, like Kelley Farm & Garden and Mill Services, will use space for storage, and some may be manufacturing, Mr. Place said.
Although the new sign generated interest, there's much to be done. The plant has no power yet, for instance.
"That makes it kind of a hindrance to get anything done," Mr. Place said. "Hopefully within the next 60 days we'll have power."
He didn't want to speak for the tenants, but Mr. Place indicated jobs would be coming--not the 900-plus jobs promised by Green Recycling Solutions International two years ago, but jobs nonetheless.
"It's not going to be huge employment," Mr. Place said. "We're not talking in the hundreds, but there will be jobs."
Mill Services is using 50,000 square feet in the far easterly building. Even with the other tenants coming in, there's still plenty of space in the 465,000-square-foot total.
"We continue to talk to potential tenants," Mr. Place said. "There will be more activity there this summer than in the past 15 years."
After taking ownership of Guilford Mills for unpaid taxes several years ago, Schoharie County tried to find buyers or tenants. Despite a few prospects, nothing materialized.
Having owned the plant only since late last year, Mr. Holt and Mr. Place already have three tenants besides their own company.
Some of the leads for tenants came from county and local officials. Others came from word of mouth; Scott Kelley of Kelley Farm and Garden already had a relationship with the owners, buying lumber and shavings from Mill Services.
Mr. Kelley's been storing lumber and building supplies in the same building Mill Services is using.
"They're easy to work with," Mr. Kelley said of the owners. "They're regular guys. . .they work like all of us."
Mr. Place and Mr. Holt didn't hesitate after buying Guilford. They rented space to Mr. Kelley in January.
"We can make quick decisions," Mr. Place said. "We didn't have to wait."
Explaining the speed with which they worked, Mr. Place said--in his opinion--the county wasn't looking or wasn't able to rent 3,000-, 4,000- or 10,000-square-foot pieces of the plant.
"It's a different scenario," he said. "We're willing to build out and work with that [smaller] scale.
"That said, we're hopeful to be renting in large chunks, too."
Guilford Mills has been vacant since September 10, 2001, just a day before 9/11. When the mill closed, more than 500 jobs left the area.