The Colusa City Council last week agreed to continue the citys lease on the former Pirelli property as they wait for possible grant funding to help breathe new life into the old manufacturing plant.
City Manager Jesse Cain said the new lease with Prysmian Cable, effective Sept. 1 through June 10, 2022, will allow for the city to sublease portions of the 200,000 square-foot facility to prospective tenants interested in manufacturing, as the city looks at financing options to proceed with the purchase agreement.
Cain said the city should know by October if the city will receive the grant funding to buy the facility outright.
Pirelli Cable was once one of the largest manufacturing sites in Northern California, and is particularly valuable because it is already equipped with services such as gas, electric, water, and sewer, officials said, making it attractive to prospective anchor tenants.
SF Metalworks is looking to move in relatively quickly, Cain said. Hexas Biomass, a Washington company, and Mannco, an Arkansas Company, are also interested in subletting portions of the massive facility.
” This bioinnovation center is sort of my dream come true,” said Ron Moore, of SF Metalworks, whose Meridian facility is too small to start a separate materials company. ” My passion is permaculture and building houses, building things, making things. The goal is to start developing sustainable, affordable housing using materials that are sourced locally and made from agricultural waste.
Jon Cheney, of Colusa, spoke to the City Council at their Aug. 24 meeting, stating he was in favor of the city attracting companies that convert plant waste into diesel-like fuel, and said there is interest out there.
” This is the future,” said Cheney, who said plans are already in the pipeline for a Colusa facilty. ” High paying jobs, no pollution…Its the real deal.
Cain said he was also working with Mannco Wastewater Solutions, which is interested in leasing about eight acres. Mannco was recently awarded $50.6 million in California municipal financing for a Colusa project to convert sewer biosolids into electricity.
City officials said there is still a lot of work that needs to be done to make the plant inhabitable, but that at full build out, the city could hope to earn about $1.2 million annually by leasing the facility to various tenants. The City Council agreed to purchase the site for $3.1 million, although there is an option to opt out if financing does not come through, Cain said.
Meanwhile, the city will continue leasing the property for $5,000 per month.
Some prospective tenants have offered to cover the cost of the upfront infrastructure improvements, in exchange for space. Others are looking for reduced rents until they are well established.
” There have been several models talked about, concerning leasing it fairly cheap at the start, but still covering our costs, (to help) start-ups come to Colusa and provide jobs for local residents,” said Mayor Josh HIll.
Because discussions have been limited at the full City Council level, members of the public last week asked for the proposed biomaterials facility project to be a standing or periodic discussion item on the councils agenda so they may stay abreast of future developments. –