McDONALD — The former McDonald Steel plant on Ohio Avenue has been acquired by a New Jersey-based company that purchases decommissioned industrial properties and redevelops them for future use.

AP McDonald LLC, an affiliate of Applied Partners LLC, purchased the 650,000-square-foot facility for $3.2 million from McDonald Industrial Land Company, according to a press release and property transfer records with the Trumbull County Auditor’s Office.

The transaction, recorded July 23, is for three parcels totaling nearly 52 acres, the largest of which is 46.7 acres at 100 Ohio Ave., McDonald, the address of the facility.

AP McDonald LLC formed April 5, according to records with the Ohio Secretary of State.

“We’re pleased that this sale has taken place not only because it provides significant financial flexibility to McDonald Steel Corporation, but also because it means that rather than becoming another deteriorating industrial facility, the site will become a vibrant center of economic growth in our community,” James M. Grasso, McDonald Steel Corporation president, said in the release. “AP has successfully redeveloped decommissioned industrial properties across the country, and we’re confident that success will be repeated in McDonald.”

In fact, AP McDonald is preparing now to dismantle the structure, Max Cenit, company spokesman, said in the release, and is ready to work with McDonald, Trumbull County and Ohio officials on post-demolition redevelopment plans for the site.

“Applied Partners is proud to be part of Ohio’s continued reindustrialization,” Cenit said.

The release states Applied Partners has purchased properties formerly owned by Dana, Chrysler, NAPCO, Eaton, General Motors, Delphi, North American Rockwell, Century Aluminum and Sypris.

The facility, built in 1918 by U.S. Steel Corporation, was closed in 1979 by U.S. Steel after the company determined it was too old and inefficient to operate profitably. A group of local investors and entrepreneurs stepped in and bought the mill, reconfigured staffing and operations and began producing hot rolled steel shapes in 1981.

McDonald Steel shuttered the 14-inch rolling mill earlier this year due to “age-related reliability issues and increasing operating costs,” the release states. The mill processed the last of the customer orders in November.

During its time operating the mill, McDonald Steel produced nearly 1 million tons of hot rolled shapes there, according to a November release.

“In the process, we paid over $200 million in wages and salaries and invested nearly $40 million in capital improvements and regular maintenance activities,” but over the last several years “mill operations had become increasingly problematic,” the company stated last year.

Village Mayor Ray Lewis said although he is disappointed McDonald Steel closed, “I’m excited and optimistic for the future of that property,” and he wants to work with the company to find ways to return commerce and jobs to the property.

“That’s our priority,” he said.

McDonald Steel continues to operate McDonald Steel Plate, the former General Steel Corp. in Cleveland. There, the company produces and sells CNC-milled joint rail bars to railroads across the U.S.

Grasso said the sale of the mill, McDonald Steel’s entry into the joint rail bar market and 2023 acquisition of General Steel are “key elements in the company’s long-term growth strategy.”

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