In 2008, Saint-Gobain built a new building in Hiram, Ohio, and Terry Coyne represented them on their relocation. In that relocation process, Saint Gobain vacated their building, which sat on 11+ acres on Cochran Road in Solon.

Requirement

The client asked Mr. Coyne what they should do with their building and he recommended they tear it down and have the land remediated for vast environmental issues. He was then hired to sell the land as a vacant industrial lot.

Challenge

Many challenges came with this listing. The land entered the market in the fall of 2009, right at the height of the recession. Second, the environmental condition was troublesome. Lastly there was a cell tower on site. Unfortunately, the latter was more of a deterrent to the site than a positive for most interested end users.

“Terry’s intimate knowledge and involvement in the history of the property helped to ensure a smooth process in a challenging transaction. We look forward to continue using Terry on this site as we look to lease the new speculative building in an ever growing submarket.”

– Ed Schwartz, ORG Property Management

Solution

Due to Terry Coyne’s many local Northeast Ohio connections, he was able to get a local developer interested in the site to build a speculative industrial building. Finding a knowledgeable and experienced buyer was half the battle so that they would have assurance that the process with the land and the state would be handled appropriately.

Result

After a long due diligence period to ensure the environmental issues and insurance premiums were satisfied, the land transferred at the end of 2014 for one of the highest land sale prices the market has seen in 10 years. This site will be a home to future speculative 200,000 square foot modern distribution building in the heart of Solon and the southeast submarket.