Auto Parkit sets goal of 100 workers by end of 2020

Alan says plan on back taxes has been established

WARREN -- The owner of Auto Parkit told city council he expects to have up to 100 employees working in the former Delphi Packard and General Electric buildings before the end of 2020.

Christopher Alan spoke briefly at council's final caucus meeting of 2019, saying that progress is being made in improving each of the buildings off Dana Street, as well as the parking lots outside of the buildings.

Alan told council the companies are installing cable and high-speed internet in the former GE building. The company is interviewing and plans to hire 11 new employees in the next several months, including electrical and mechanical engineers, a master carpenter, welders and laborers.

Eight of the new employees will be based in Warren, but three will traveling between the company's California offices and Warren.

"We are interviewing people from Akron university, Youngstown State University and other area schools," Alan said. "From a hiring standpoint, it has been difficult."

Alan said the Warren facilities currently have more than 40 employees.

When he first arrived in Warren four years ago, Alan said he expected to have between 750 and 1,000 employees in Warren in 10 years. On Wednesday, Alan reiterated he expects to reach those numbers.

"We have to have that level of employment if we're going to do the international business we expect," Alan said.

He said the company expects to begin work on the parking system's testing facility, which will be in the former Packard building, next year.

"Having the testing facility here will represent a major savings for us," Alan said.

Alan said the company has cleaned up the parking lot and expects to make Dana Street the primary entrance to Auto Parkit's manufacturing facility.

He also told council members a payment plan on back property taxes has been established with Trumbull County.

Alan's companies, Dorian Capital Investments Inc. and Raider Trading Limited LLC, took ownership of 650 Griswold Ave., the former Delphi factory, and 480 Dana St., the former Packard plant, in 2018.

He spent $175,000 to buy eight Dana Street properties from Maximus III Properties when that company's owner went through federal bankruptcy proceedings. The properties have an assessed collective value of $886,100 from a 2017 assessment, down from a collective value of $992,000 in a 2011 assessment.

The companies purchased 650 Griswold Ave. for $15,000 from Maximus during Sergio DiPaolo's bankruptcy proceedings. The property had a value of $351,000 in a 2018 assessment, down from $573,900 in 2011.

As part of the deal, Alan agreed in the bankruptcy filings to pay the back taxes owed on the properties.

Earlier this year, the county threatened to foreclose on the properties because the taxes had not been paid.

In other business, council said goodbye to outgoing members Dan Sferra and Eugene Mach. Sferra has been a city councilman, a member of the Ohio House and was the longest serving mayor in the city, elected to four terms