Friday, January 25, 2008

$20M from Delfin USA for North Charleston Site

With Boeing, Vought and Global Aeronautica already in North Charleston, Google coming to Goose Creek, it looks we will soon add another substantial, international presence, suggesting that the north area really is the "coming" place! I love that I'm here, now to be a part of these exciting times!

"Delfin Group USA wasn’t looking to establish a manufacturing beachhead in North Charleston. But when the perfect opportunity arose at the Chevron Corp. property late last year, the Russian petroleum firm had no choice but to jump at it, said Tony Williams, who orchestrated the $20 million deal on the parcel for the company.

'What a nice piece of property,' said Williams, a Delfin Group USA vice president, recalling his reaction on his first visit to the shuttered Chevron plant on Virginia Avenue. 'I can honestly say that in 30 years of looking at facilities for sale, I’ve only seen one I thought was better, and that was several years ago in Antwerp, Belgium, and largely due to the fact that logistics in Northern Europe are so phenomenal.'

Delfin Group Russia, formerly Luxoil, has operated plants in Moscow and in Riga, Latvia, for decades, but it was only 16 months ago that Marcos Bagdasarian, a Delfin principal, established a North American division in Atlanta.

Enlisting Williams, a 30-year veteran of the oil and lubricant industries and a native of Manning, S.C., as his vice president, Bagdasarian wanted to simply set up a U.S. purchasing office. Williams, however, came with an expertise in land deals and managing international operations. His background included founding Global Alliance, a firm that managed three lubricant mixing plants in South America.

In 2007, the two had been scouting sites near Atlanta and Savannah to establish a scalable production facility, ideally with a rail connection. While searching, Williams and Bagdasarian received a call from a real estate agent they knew who had the 'perfect' location for them in North Charleston.

The Virginia Avenue property, which has changed hands numerous times over the past several decades, and which most recently went on the market in June for an asking price of $26 million, is expected to be operational by February, Williams said.

The site had been in use as a service station or lubricant oil terminal since 1910. Delfin plans to ship raw oils and additives to the facility, where they will be mixed, bottled and prepared for sale to automotive, commercial and industrial users. The product will then be shipped out to its principal markets of Europe and West and North Africa, and the Asian Pacific rim.

At full production, the plant is expected to manufacture 10 million gallons of petroleum products annually and employ between 120 and 170."

For the full Charleston Regional Business Journal article: http://www.charlestonbusiness.com/current/14_2/news/11204-1.html

For my website highlighting the area near the site: http://parkcircleonline.com/

2 comments:

zoya said...

Interesting article. I am trying to find a contact with a right person who is responsible for hiring people for a company " Delfin Group USA" in N Charleston. I am Russian- American and interested in getting a position there. Any idea ?Pleese, need your help.
Thanks,
Zoya Conover. zconover1@comcast.net

zoya said...

Interesting article. I am trying to find a contact with a right person who is responsible for hiring people for a company " Delfin Group USA" in N Charleston. I am Russian- American and interested in getting a position there. Any idea ?Pleese, need your help.
Thanks,
Zoya Conover. zconover1@comcast.net