Pennington Stave Company: Owner Shares Details
Chad Pennington at the official announcement ceremony for Pennington Stave Company in 2021. Photo Submitted
By PJ Martin
Editor, The Herald-News
The Edmonton – Metcalfe Industrial Development Authority (IDA) meeting just adjourned a few minutes ago, and The Herald-News sat down to speak with Chad Pennington, owner of Pennington Stave Company, to learn more about the buyer he has for the stave business.
You just asked the Industrial Board members what it would cost for the building and the property if someone wanted to buy it. What did they tell you?
“Well, they didn’t give me an answer. They wanted to appraise it.”
“I’ve got a person that is interested in buying the building and our equipment and moving some jobs into our area pretty quick within the next couple of months.”
The City of Edmonton and Metcalfe County, in general, could use more industry and definitely jobs.
“It won’t be quite as many as before, but with the business plan and our vision out there at the park, I mean, by the end of the year, we hope to not only get back there, but exceed that as well”
When the then spec building was fitted up for the stave business, the unused side of the building was literally set to do the same thing as the side that was already set up.
“Yeah. Half the building is empty, and of course we’re just using eight acres. We could use some more of that land as well and put in some other stuff that would also bring jobs.”
I know you have a partner and have been paying the loan, even though you aren’t running, but when you asked them for a price to buy the building, they didn’t give you one.
“No, which is surprising. I mean, most communities, their industrial authority would give away a building like this just to get the jobs to the community. You know, being a nonprofit organization, I don’t expect the same treatment from a small town, because I know our city and county – we’re tough with home funds, but I think they’re ready to make an offer that would help the Industrial board, would help us get out from one of the payments, and get the jobs back here pretty quick.”
You know they paid the TVA RDAPP money on some payments to ESB. But by their tally, the ESB loan balance is $299,352.07. Correct?
“We just looked at that. So, you know, we’ve already invested, my current partner and I, we’ve put over two and a half, $3 million into the fit-up cost and the equipment cost. And we’ve kept the payments current.”
You basically just asked them, what will it take to buy this? It would pay off your equipment. It would pay off the ESB loan. It would pay off everything and get jobs back. So that sounds like a win-win. It’s hard to see how anyone might turn that down.
“Yeah, I can’t either. That would help them with taxes once it starts running. You know, there’s no way to lose on that. So, as far as the town/city, I guess we’ll find out. They want to have another meeting, but they want to do it behind closed doors, so I will have no idea what they’re doing. Basically, they don’t want anybody to know what they’re doing. I guess we’ll wait for the next meeting. I hope it’s sooner rather than later, because I brought one guy in here four or five years ago to invest in our community. Now I’ve got another guy who’s ready to come in and invest in our community. It’s about time that our people start investing in our community.”
Good point. Really good point. As Lisa (Boswell) said, they’ll set up another meeting. Of course, it’s a holiday, so it won’t be this week, but hopefully next week.
“That’s what I’m hoping for.”
Why do you think they would want to appraise it again? It’s sitting there, the same as it was the last time it was appraised.
“Yeah, that’s interesting.”
We both know what they owe the bank. You know what’s left on the loan, basically. I don’t know what else they’d want. Oh, I mean, there’s a fair medium there somewhere.
“I’m just confused. There are some members on that board that were never here for putting this business in, and they don’t seem to be interested in keeping it or bringing anything else. I mean, their no vote speaks volumes. One nay and one disagreement.”
“I’m excited to get it back up and running and hopefully, probably won’t get them all back, but I’d love to get some of my group back to work, because I had a great crew already and it was running really well.”
Hopefully, the meeting will be soon. Thank you for sitting down and talking with us today.
