Union sells Bronx building, will host inventory auction
Equipment and machinery company plans to create a network of warehouses.
Union Standard Equipment & Union Confectionery Machinery have sold their historic building in the Bronx upon being approached by a real estate developer anxious to capitalize on the hot real estate market in the area.
Consequently, the company is planning a huge two-day auction sale of its inventory on site and online July 27-28 (Wed./Thurs.).
A complete auction catalog will be available online. Customers will receive advance notice by email and may inspect machinery by appointment any time prior to the auction sale. Rabin Worldwide, a longtime strategic partner of Union in the auction space, will conduct the sale through Bidspotter.
The building sale comes during a period of “very strong sales, excellent market share and a deep commitment by the entire family to continue the business serving customers worldwide,” say Jim Greenberg, co-president of Union. “We consider it an opportunity for our customers, nothing less.”
Union intends to vacate the space by summer’s end and take strategic warehouse space on the East Coast. They are also in the process of expanding their operations in Mexico City, a wholly owned subsidiary which was established by the family in the 1980’s.
Union also will continue to rebuild equipment, and have strategic warehouse space throughout the United States and Mexico. In fact, the company already has a facility in Mexico, but it mostly serves that country’s market.
“We’re going to find places around the U.S. that are strategic and we’ll continue to have partners like we do now,” Greenberg says. “We’re going to buy and sell, we’re just not going to have our own rebuilding facility [in the U.S.].”
Greenberg says the company sold the building to developers, who approached Union about buying the property.
“Brooklyn’s really hot, so these developers are always looking for the next place,” he says. “Our building has a lot of value.”
The property sale begins the next chapter of the fourth-generation family business and represents “a great opportunity for our family to prepare for the eventual fifth generation of ownership to carry on our legacy” says Greenberg.
The building was built in 1912 for The Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company and was eventually purchased by Union in 1963 to house their entire operations in the New York area. The building allowed for used machinery warehousing and equipment rebuilding plus the manufacture of the company’s National Equipment brand of enrobers, starch moguls, chocolate melters and hard candy equipment.
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