Somerville Biz Heads To MetroWest
PHOTO/BRANDON BUTLER
John de Vries, president and CEO of Central Steel, stands in front of racks that hold steel at the company's new Marlborough facility.
Sometimes eminent domain proceedings can actually lead to new opportunities for a business.
That's what John de Vries, president and CEO of Central Steel Supply Co., is realizing now.
For the last 11 years, de Vries has been fighting an eminent domain battle with the town of Somerville concerning the company's former headquarters.
After it became clear last fall that Central Steel would have to move from its home of more than four decades, de Vries decided to relocate his business to Marlborough.
The 30-person company is now setting up shop in a 54,000-square-foot industrial building at 85 Ames St., across from the Marlborough Technology Park that has been vacant for the last two years.
And now de Vries is hoping the move will allow the company to expand into new markets.
Home Wars
Central Steel is a family owned business started in 1948 by de Vries' father-in-law, Walter Lipsett, who bought the company as it was on the brink of bankruptcy.
The company purchases wholesale steel from mills in New York, Connecticut and Canada, then cuts and molds the steel into various shapes, sizes and figures for sale. The company serves building contractors, subcontractors, construction workers, installers, plumbers, home builders. Central Steel can pretty much cut any kind of steel into any shape and have it delivered to a site with one of the company's six trucks the next day.
Land Grab
In the late 1990s, rumors began to swirl that the city of Somerville wanted to redevelop the area where Central Steel had its operations on Foley Street.
Within the last three years it became clear to de Vries that his business would likely have to move. Town officials, he said, asked him to negotiate a sales agreement with a developer who had submitted plans to construct new commercial facilities where Central Steel was located. de Vries said town officials threatened to take the land via eminent domain if the company did not settle with the developer.
In September, de Vries came to an agreement with the developer, Federal Realty, which included about $3 million to move the equipment and inventory from Somerville to a new location.
Marlborough seemed like a natural fit, de Vries said.
He explored reopening the business in Everett and Medford, but the spot in Marlborough ended up working out the best.
"It's a great location, right off the highway and centrally located in New England," de Vries said.
The company has about 30 workers and plans to be fully operational at the new location by next month. de Vries hopes to hire about five new workers in the coming weeks and likely about five more after a few months.
The company distributes its fabricated steel throughout Massachusetts, southern New Hampshire and Rhode Island. de Vries is hoping with the new location the company will be able to expand its market into Connecticut.
Before expansion can begin, however, the company has to move out of Somerville. That is easier said than done for a steel company.
de Vries estimates that the Somerville location has between 125 and 150 truckloads of steel in the 45,000-square-foot building. All that steel has to be transported from Somerville to the new Marlborough location, with each truckload weighing about 45,000 pounds. Plus, de Vries wants to remain open and operational throughout the transition.
"It'll be a process," he said.
Central Steel is also making some investments to spruce up the new location.
The company purchased a new plasma steel cutter, which is a high-powered electric cutting machine that can cut steel faster and more precisely than any equipment the company has ever had before.
de Vries also purchased a new traditional cutting machine that will cut sheets of steel to custom sizes.
Check out a video of Central Steel Supply's high definition plasma electricity cutting machine.
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