Surber said CyberAmerica has more than $10 million in assets, but often has cash flow problems because the company is growing.
Journal Star (Peoria, IL) August 16, 1997 1997 CITY DESK NEWS ALL B1 JESSICA DAYTON CLEANUP EFFORTS BEGIN AT FORMER IH PLANT<CANTON REOPENS STREET AFTER WORK CREWS REMOVE BRICKS, DEBRIS LEFT BY FIRE CANTON -- Puffs of smoke rising above the former International Harvester plant in Canton Friday were not from the blaze that ravaged the plant more than a week ago, but from the beginning rumblings of cleanup efforts by the property's owner.
The fire, which was determined to be deliberately set, remains under investigation.
A crew hired by CyberAmerica representative Allan Hanson removed bricks and other debris from fire-damaged and demolished buildings that littered Elm Street, and erected a 6-foot chain-link fence around the open areas of the 33-acre site. Security guards started watch Friday night.
"This is definitely a good sign," Canton Mayor Don Edwards said of the early cleanup efforts by the owners. "I understand they've got contractors going through there and (Hanson) is going to be submitting a plan to the city about how they're going to clean it up and what they're going to be doing."
Elm Street between Second and Fourth Avenues had been closed since the early hours of the fire Aug. 6. Once the fire was out, city officials made safety and the opening of Elm Street top priorities. Edwards said Friday afternoon the city street superintendent inspected the Elm Street area, determined it safe and opened the section to traffic.
Four area contractors have expressed interest in cleaning up at least portions of the site, some have already toured the plant, according to Hanson. Bids on demolition and cleanup of the plant are expected to be submitted by next week. Until then, the company is putting everything else on hold.
Once a contractor is selected, the question then becomes: Where will this company that can't even pay the $330,000 it owes Fulton County in back property taxes, find the money to clean up and renovate 33 acres of fire-ravaged, age-deteriorated and possibly polluted property? Although no one seems willing to estimate the cost of cleaning up the property, everyone fears it could reach into the millions. Hanson said he fears demolition of the remaining buildings could be incredibly costly due to high asbestos content. A remediation specialist from Chicago has toured the plant to look for any hazardous material that might pose a problem during demolition.
Hanson said the inspector's only concern was the asbestos. However, 55-gallon drums of dried water-based paint, used oil and solvent also remain in the plant. Hanson said the cost of removing or relocating the drums is extreme and also is the only reason they remain in the plant today.
Canton fire officials called the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency emergency response team in on the first day of the fire. However, IEPA officials said the blistering blaze, which burned hotter than any incinerator at more than 2000 degrees, left investigators with no worries about environmental concerns.
One possible funding solution, according to Hanson, is the use of salvage operations. At least one contractor has expressed a desire to demolish the remaining brick structures in return for being able to keep any salvageable materials. Another contractor expressed some interest in salvaging some of the steel from the plant.
"This certainly seems to be a creative solution to at least part of the problem," he said.
Richard Surber, president of Thistle Holdings, a subsidiary of CyberAmerica and owner of the Canton plant, said Friday that the company was looking into joint ventures with investors interested in developing the property.
Surber said CyberAmerica has more than $10 million in assets, but often has cash flow problems because the company is growing.
"We're in the business of buying and selling distressed properties, which is why we actually ended up owning the Canton plant," he said. "It's a company policy. We like to keep different assets segregated. The company is made of different subsidiaries and we keep the properties separate and they have to hold their own. In other words, we want the property to pay for itself."
In other words, Surber said, the company doesn't plan to pay its back property taxes until the Canton property is developed and becomes profitable.
"We're not choosing not to pay it," Surber said. "We just want the property to pay for itself, instead of having to steal from another part of the company to pay that property's taxes."
Surber said CyberAmerica, formerly Canton Industrial Corp., has a lawsuit pending against an Illinois company which sold them a tire shredding machine, which did not shred tires to required specifications for recycling. The malfunctioning machine resulted in a pile up of more than 600,000 tires in the Canton facility, and an EPA-ordered cleanup by the state.
Surber said his company is seeking a monetary settlement from the manufacturer of the shredder. If CyberAmerica wins, the money could go toward renovation of the Canton facility and payment of the property taxes.
When asked about a press release issued by CyberAmerica/CIC last July that announced the sale of CyberBust-It, Inc. for $15 million, Surber said the Internet aspect of the company has been dropped and all contracts associated with it are void. So, the company never saw any of the money from the sale. The sale of a recent property, however, may produce the cash flow necessary to push the cleanup efforts, he said.
What will happen after the cleanup? Hanson said the company is investigating the possibility of developing a part of the site as housing and leaving a portion for light industrial businesses.
"We've got a disaster -- we've also got an opportunity," Hanson said. "The company wants to have a full plan with architectural renderings, where the money will come from ... by early next year. We're talking February or March at the latest."
Hanson said CyberAmerica wants to pursue what Canton wants and needs and is looking at duplexes and a high-rise, assisted living facility as possibilities.
"They (CyberAmerica) want construction to begin by next year with ground-breaking around August or September," he said. "The first step of any construction project would certainly be finishing up of any remaining cleanup. " @ART CAPTION:Don Inmon carries his stepson, Jonah Estes, 2, over a pile of brick rubble at the former International Harvester plant in Canton this week. Inmon was working as part of the cleanup and securing of the plant and took a look at the remains of what was once storage for Jay's Potato Chips. What had been a four-story building was only ashes in the basement. Inmon owns Canton Rentals and was a tenant at the former plant. |
