A Foundation Made Of Rock(ville)
The Amerbelle Textile factory, which spreads over six dilapidated-looking buildings in Rockville, is among the last remaining textile mills in the Northeast.
That it still retains that claim to fame is in no small part due to a group of volunteer businessmen, the town and a loyal customer who all worked jointly to spare the factory — which over the years has processed textiles for the likes of Eddie Bauer, L.L. Bean and Patagonia — from closing its doors four years ago.
It’s a testament to the success the nonprofit group — that now owns the factory buildings — is having in this manufacturing town on the Hockanum River. And with a recently announced $200,000 federal grant that will pay for some — though by no means all — desperately needed upgrades and repairs to the factory, it appears to be getting the attention of at least some of the powers that be. Although the money is far less than the more than $1 million officials estimate is needed for repairs, it’s a start. One that builds on several previous grants that will go to fix leaking roofs and broken windows and ensure one of the town’s largest employers — with 120 workers — remains solvent.
April marks the four year anniversary since Amerbelle Corp., which operated the plant for nearly 70 years, faced the possibility of bankruptcy after amassing nearly $800,000 in unpaid taxes and sewage fees at the mill. The prospect of shutting the doors — and laying off 100 workers — loomed.
Rather than see the factory close, the town called on the nonprofit Hockanum Industrial Development and Venture Corp., and asked the group, essentially a partnership of five local businessmen, to assume ownership of the building. They worked out a plan under which HIDVC would own the factory buildings, the town would waive unpaid fees and help clean up the environmental damage at the site, and a customer, New York businessman Douglas Rimsky, would take over the business — processing, dyeing and finishing textiles.
Even at the time, this type of arrangement was not new in Rockville. The HIDVC had been working under a similar arrangement for the nearby Shepherd Mill for three years at that point. The ownership structure eventually led to the sale of that mill to a new owner, the group’s stated goal for the property.
Now, as Amerbelle approaches the four-year anniversary of its reconstituted self, the roof still leaks, the floor still creaks and its workers occasionally throw tarps over the machinery inside. But the business is still intact, having added five new jobs a year since it was sold off to the unique new ownership structure.
“Of course, we definitely need more help to make this operable, but we’re going pretty strongly right now,” said William Horowitz, Amerbelle president. “Things are definitely better than they were four years ago.”
And that’s sort of the point, said Gary Wolff, a Rockville native now living in Tolland who is one of the principals of the HIDVC.
“We did this so the factory could remain in town, pay taxes and keep those workers’ jobs,” he said. “Ideally, it can go off on its own and remain viable all by itself. We hope it works. But even if it doesn’t in the long run, we still saved those 100 jobs for four years, and that’s something you have to feel good about.”
Ken St. Onge is a freelance writer who also blogs about manufacturing at NutmegMachine.com.
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