The U.S. Army put on a show Friday to bid farewell to a $112 million truck refurbishing plant it no longer needs.
More than 400 spectators filled the lawn outside the Tooele Army Depot's Consolidated Maintenance Facility and listened as a parade of dignitaries traded praise, then officially transferred the 400,000-square-foot building into the private sector.Detroit Diesel Remanufacturing Corp., a subsidiary of Detroit Diesel Corp. of Redford, Mich., will move its Salt Lake operations to the Consolidated Maintenance Facility, then expand. Roger S. Penske, chief executive officer of Detroit Diesel Corp., said the Tooele plant could employ 600 people by 1999, including 300 or more from the local area. About 25 local workers could be hired within the next month or so, he said.
"This opportunity to migrate this business to Tooele is an excellent one for us," Penske told the gathering. "You've given me the ball. The green flag has dropped today. We've made a lot of commitments, and we're going to live up to those commitments."
At Friday's ceremony, the Army officially gave the facility to the City of Tooele's Redevelopment Agency. The agency, represented by Tooele Mayor Grant "Bud" Pendleton, in turn sold the plant for $10 million to Penske Realty of Utah Inc., which owns about 50 percent of Detroit Diesel. Penske Realty will then lease the plant to Detroit Diesel Remanufacturing.
The big event was the culmination of a three-year saga that began when the Base Realignment and Closure Commission decided to shut down the plant less than a year after it began operations. Gov. Mike Leavitt, Rep. Jim Hansen, R-Utah, and Under Secretary of the Army Joe Reeder took part in the festivities.
Several of Friday's speakers touched on how quickly the federal, state and local governments were able to find a private company to take over the facility and reach agreement on how that would be done. The whole process took just two years, and Reeder said the conveyance negotiations and paperwork - normally a six-month process - took just 48 days.
But for some who attended Friday's ceremony, that wasn't fast enough. Several former CMF workers told the Deseret News they didn't understand why the transition couldn't have been made in a way that would have kept more of them employed for a longer period of time. Several of the former employees said they are still angry about the Army's decision to close the plant.
"They're still bitter. I know there's people out on the street still looking for a job," said Bennie Koffel, who had been a CMF mechanic.
Koffel was lucky. He was transferred to another job at the depot. But his wife Linda, a 23-year employee at the depot, is still looking for work.
Roger Caldwell had worked in an adjacent maintenance facility at the depot but lost his job when the base was realigned. He now works at the depot's South Area. He plans to retire in September and apply for work at the privatized CMF.
"Maybe we can get into the mechanic field rather than a field we're not as experienced in," he said.
Brad Wall worked in the CMF and was president of the International Association of Machinists, Local 2261, when the realignment was announced. He now works in the depot's South Area as a toxic materials handler.
Wall said he's spoken to many displaced depot workers and nearly all of them are excited about Detroit Diesel's acquisition. Most made annual salaries of between $25,000 and $30,000 while it was under the Army's control. They probably won't make that much working for Detroit Diesel, he said, but most will be happy to have a job - if they can get one.
"They're really excited about getting jobs because they're from the area and they don't want to leave," Wall said. "For a lot of these guys that left (the depot), their severance pay is just running out."
The city is receiving a total of 1,700 acres of warehouses, maintenance shops and other property that have been part of the depot's 23,472-acre North Area. Nine companies have signed leases to occupy vacant Army buildings and 50 more companies are interested, Army officials said.
Gov. Leavitt said the facility should generate $16.5 million in tax revenues for the city and Tooele County over the next 10 years.
Penske said the company's Houston operations will be moved to the Tooele plant, which will rebuild engines and remanufacture parts. Detroit Diesel has 6,200 employees worldwide and reported a net income of $40.1 million in 1995.