FLSmidth on the move

In its heyday, foundry employed around 800 people
By JENNIFER BURDEN THE PACKET & TIMES January 14 2011
A piece of Orillia’s industrial history is up for sale.
All four parcels of the 144-year-old FLSmidth property, formerly known as Dorr-Oliver or Dorr-Oliver-Long, at 174 West St. S. are on the market for $3.9 million.
“We decided now with the size of business we are, that this building, with the cost (of) taxes, heat, insurance and so forth, that we were going to move into another building somewhere in Orillia,” general manager Brad Johnston said Friday.
In August, FLSmidth announced the demolition of its 70,000-square-foot foundry, which came down in late September. At that time, two of the four parcels of land were available for sale.
More recently, the company decided to sell the entire 22.5-acre property with all of the existing buildings, which will save the company $300,000 to $400,000 annually, Johnston said.
“We’ve been contemplating this over the last few years because of the shrinking.”
There are currently 45 employees based out of the Orillia location. During Dorr-Oliver’s peak employment period in the late 1970s, there were approximately 800 people working on site.
Johnston said FLDSmidth, an international underground mining firm, is keeping its options open right now.
“We haven’t fully decided whether we want to buy a piece of land and build, or buy something existing. We want to get something that suits our business and is professional,” he said.
They will also consider leasing a portion of the 37,000 square-feet of office space from the future buyer if that offer is made available.
FLSmidth has no intention of moving outside of Orillia, he added, because the company’s assets are the 45 local employees.
Johnston hopes to sell all four parcels of land together, but would consider selling individual sections separately. As of Friday, the entire site had been listed for 66 days. Johnston said there has been “a lot of action,” but no offers as of yet.
FLSmidth is also currently working with the City of Orillia and the Ministry of Environment to complete environmental testing on the old foundry property in hopes of obtaining a certificate of property use.
Johnston was adamant that there is nothing wrong with the scrap metal left behind after demolition, only that metal prices took a turn for the worse and the contractor requested some time before picking it up. That cleanup process should start in late January or early February, he added.
There is no timeline for the potential move, but Johnston said it should take place some time this year.
Roy Micks and Mike Lee of Remax are handling the multimillion-dollar sale.