West end of Flora Dennis Kuns stands by the tall sign advertising Sycamore Industrial Park, owned by his corporation, DLP 315 LLC. It is located at 315 S. Sycamore St., Flora. The site offers 75,000 sq. ft. and a potential of 15 tenants. The three current tenants occupy nearly 40 percent of the space. Comet photo by Jennifer Archibald Sycamore Industrial Park in Flora is an example of what can be done with a vacant, distressed industrial site.

The plant at 315 South Sycamore Street (State Road 75) formerly was occupied by Stephen A. Young Corp. (SAYCO), JPI, and Briggs Industries. All three manufactured plumbing fixtures. Briggs ceased manufacturing operations in 2003.

DLP 315 LLC, owned by Dennis Kuns of Camden, leased the property in 2006 and purchased it last summer.

"It's a work in progress," he said.

The labor comes from his own company, D-K Construction.

"Between 2006 and 2008, we worked to clean up, repair the roof, stabilize the building, and get tenants in here," he said.

"We took out assembly lines and heavy industrial machinery. In all, we removed between 300,000 and 400,000 pounds of scrap iron."

Kuns "SAYCO started manufacturing in the 1940s," Kuns said. "After years and years of production, you can imagine the amount of grease and grime."

He said he hired a person to power wash all the walls, floors, and ceilings, and go over it twice. It took most of one summer, he said

Kuns's plan for the building complex is to give everything a unified look.

"It started out at 83,000 sq. ft., and we're paring it down to about 75,000 sq. ft.," he explained.

So far, they've taken off five additions that were in disrepair or otherwise detracted from the property's appearance, and Kuns said they have two or three more to go.

Interior space was remodeled for the three current tenants, and the front of the main building has a new look.

Kuns said work completed on the front includes new windows and doors, new siding, and a new color scheme, which will be carried out as further work is done. And a new sign went up recently.

Another improvement, Kuns said, was installing seven overhead doors, with more to come.

"We're in the process of putting in a new mechanical system," he added.

Kuns said the purchase included two vacant lots across the street and a seven-acre field behind the property, for a total of 15 acres, counting the industrial complex. The main plant and detached office total 33,000 sq. ft. There are two warehouses, (12,000 sq. ft. and 10,000 sq. ft.) and two shop areas (16,000 and 4,000 sq. ft.).

"Potentially, there are as many as 15 tenant spaces here, of various sizes" Kuns said. "These are suitable for shop and warehousing operations, and small manufacturing."

The three current tenants are Brenneco Fire Protection, Indiana Letterpress LLC, and D-K Vintage Timber Packages.

Brenneco has been a tenant since 2006 and is located in the office building.

"We did a lot of work in there," Kuns said. He added that Brenneco also rents part of one of the warehouses.

Indiana Letterpress moved to the location in 2007, and is in the front of the main building. Because this is in the former factory, walls had to be built to make a 3,000 sq. ft. shop, and doors, windows, office, and restroom were added.

D-K Vintage Timber Packages, a division of D-K Construction, began operating at the site last year and currently occupies the two shop areas, totaling 20,000 sq. ft.

Kuns said he plans to move all his D-K Construction operations to the site, including offices.

Kuns began investigating the possibility of buying the property in 2005. He said it took three years to actually acquire it because of all that is involved in purchasing an industrial site.

"Manufacturing, plating, warehousing, and shipping were done here," Kuns said. "SAYCO had the first private wastewater treatment in the state, according to a former long-time employee."

Kuns explained that in purchasing a vacant and distressed industrial site, also termed a "brownfield," a series of environmental steps must be taken to be in compliance with the Indiana Department of Environmental Management (IDEM).

"Phase I and Phase II (fact finding and testing) must be completed," he said.

"We're 90 percent done with the testing stage," Kuns said. "Everything we have discovered so far has been very minimal."

"If there's anything to clean up, the next stage will be remediation," he said.

Kuns pointed out that as part of his "due diligence," he performed a Phase I Environmental Investigation in 2006. He said the seller is responsible for Phase II, any potential clean up, and ultimately for proving there's no contamination on the site.

"Testing and followup could take several years," he added. "The process is over when IDEM decides no further action is necessary."

The process takes a lot of documentation. Kuns said so far, he has six three-ring binders full of paperwork.

Purchasing an industrial site requires a series of agreements. Kuns said he relied on the expertise of a friend, Jon Shope, who has had experience in acquiring brownfields.

"He helped me navigate the ins and outs of leasing, financing, purchasing, and in dealing with the realtor, seller, IDEM and the environmental issues. It can be quite mind boggling at times, so I was very grateful to have Jon as an advisor," Kuns said.

He added that he is also grateful to the board of the Carroll County Economic Development Corporation for contributing $6,000 toward the cost of Phase I.

"We support those kinds of efforts in the county," said Daryl Smith, executive director of the Carroll County EDC. "It's wonderful - what he (Kuns) has done there - taking that structure from what it was - cleaning and getting it into shape."

Josh Ayres, president of the Flora Town Council, echoed Smith's sentiments.

"We're thankful that an individual took on a project like this and is seeing it through," he said. Ayres commented that a vacant building is always a concern for the town.

"We've lived around here all our lives," Kuns said. "I drive past here every day, and I got tired of seeing that ugly green building. We want to make a living, but we also want to make a difference in the looks of this end of town. There's a lot of space here to be utilized. When we get it all fixed up, it will be good for Flora and good for the county."