Auction nears for huge, vacant Muncie factory

MUNCIE -- Not just any buyer would be interested in an empty factory building with an assembly room that is more than five football fields long and has a 99-foot ceiling.\nThe 740,000-square-foot factory had been used by Westinghouse and then ABB to build electrical transformers until it was closed in 1998. It is to be sold during an auction today Steve Cooney of Tranzon Asset Advisors said he has talked with 51 interested buyers.\n"Of that, there are maybe 15 solid contacts who are serious players," Cooney said. "We'll whittle that 15 down to four or five for the actual sale."\nCooney said about 10 groups had toured the building since the auction was announced, but he declined to say how much Tranzon hopes to get for the factory.\nSince ABB left in 1998, portions of the building have been used. DIY Group has storage in the building, and Red Gold stacked empty cans in the building's assembly room, which has rail lines for delivery of materials and shipping of product. Cooney said the cans were stacked nearly to the 99-foot ceiling.\nSigns of Westinghouse and ABB remain in the building on the city's south side. Near the front entrance, a plaque recounting ABB's mission statement remains on the wall, as does a 1994 award for quality.\n"The world's best transformers are built here," reads a sign with an arrow that points into the large assembly building.\n"Our big goal is bringing jobs to Muncie," Cooney said of the auction. "I want to sell the building, but if I can get a factory in here, it's win-win"