Planet Aid Buys Milford's Brine Warehouse
The long-vacant former Brine Corp. warehouse in Milford has been purchased by nonprofit organization Planet Aid, which will move its Holliston operations to the site.
Wayne Michaud, regional manager for Planet Aid, which collects clothing donations to support community-based programs around the world, said the move to the nearly 132,000-square-foot Milford site is necessary because the nonprofit has outgrown the Holliston location it's been at since 1997.
Michaud said the new facility is about three times the size of the Holliston site. He also said the $1.25-million deal markss the first time Planet Aid has purchased a facility.
"When you do the math on it, it figures out to be the same (to purchase or lease), so it makes more sense to try to purchase it and gain equity … for the future," Michaud said.
Nationwide, Planet Aid has 14 warehouses and service centers. The Holliston location serves as the intake warehouse where donations from about 2,000 collection boxes from throughout Rhode Island, Connecticut and Massachusetts are brought to be unloaded, processed, baled and sent to buyers who sell the clothing at consignment shops, giving Planet Aid money for its projects around the world.
Michaud said the nonprofit plans to move its 65 Holliston employees to Milford and add maintenance staff. Planet Aid's corporate headquarters is in Baltimore, but Michaud said human resources, sales and other corporate employees work out of Holliston.
He said the Milford site, at 47 Sumner St., was attractive because of the location and pricing, but noted that it needs renovations, including roof work. Michaud said Planet Aid hopes to be in the new facility by spring, but said that depends in part on the weather because of the need for a new roof.
According to published reports from early 2011, a section of the roof collapsed under pressure from snow that year.
The warehouse has been empty since Brine Corp., which was purchased by Boston-based athletic shoe manufacturer New Balance in 2006, vacated the site in late 2008.
The property's seller, John H. Finley of Creative Development Co., said he hadn't wanted to sell the property, but couldn't find a tenant.
In 2008, he wasn't optimistic about redeveloping the site, saying instead that he believed it would be best to attract another distribution-type tenant.
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