WATERFORD — KBS Builders, based in South Paris, is selling its Waterford plant and asking for close to $1 million.

The Dunham Group in Portland is marketing the 61,850-square-foot manufacturing plant at 947 Waterford Road for KBS Builders for $995,000, according to information on the Dunham Group’s webpage.

A “For Sale” sign has been placed at the site.

It is unclear what effect this sale has on the operation of the KBS Builders or its employees. Efforts to get a comment from KBS officials were unsuccessful.

In recent years, the plant has traditionally closed in the winter and laid off from 20 to 60 or so employees or moved them to the company’s South Paris plant. Officials have said in previous years that the lack of commercial building work in Maine and overhead costs in the Waterford facility were the major reasons they shut the plant down each winter.

Established in 2001, the modular home company was formed as KBS Building Systems, offering a diverse line of housing, commercial and industrial buildings. The main office and factory are in South Paris.

Advertisement

In late 2007, KBS Building Systems purchased the former Waterford Homes property in Waterford from a Massachusetts firm. Waterford Homes, a 2-year-old, high-end manufacturer, had defaulted on mortgage and loan payments and closed in 2006.

The Waterford manufacturing plant, was reopened early the following year with some 20 new hires, boosting KBS’ production by as much as a third.

In April 2014, KBS Building Systems was purchased by a Minnesota-based manufacturer, Aetrium, from Robert Farnum in a deal reportedly worth $10.5 million. Aetrium is part of the semiconductor industry.

The buyer retained the approximately 200 employees and changed the name to KBS Builders Inc.

The property is assessed at $814,200, according to town records. That includes $50,600 for the land and $763,600 for the building. A tax payment was made last month for a total of $12,416.55 paid in property taxes for this year as of Nov. 27. The taxes were paid through 2017, according to information from the town clerk’s office.

Copy the Story Link

Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.

Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.