By Ken Alltucker
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Stearns Technical Textiles Co. factory and office buildings in Lockland are in a prime location - the middle of the north and south lanes of Interstate 75. (Tony Jones photo)

A Lockland company that traces its roots to 1846 begins today the process of selling off its business, piece by piece.

A bankruptcy court-approved auction of the Stearns Technical Textiles Co.'s plant in Lockland will offer every last widget to the public. That means the highest bidder can walk away with anything from a 400-gallon steel tank to a 36-inch woodworking band saw.

Feeling adventurous? Name a price on a "skid of miscellaneous" items or a collection of unidentified machine line parts.

But the prize eyed by many is the factory itself. One lucky bidder could own 14 acres and 1.1 million square feet of factory and office space smack in the middle of the north and south lanes of Interstate 75.

The privately-owned Stearns Technical Textile filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy in December 2001. Last summer, the company once known as Stearns & Foster Co. sold its consumer products division to a Missouri-based bedding and furniture manufacturer, Leggett & Platt Inc. The company's industrial division ceased operations.

Chief executive officer Thomas L. Dunham said the old factory's equipment became too expensive to maintain. The only solution was to shut down the plant.

The fate of the real estate is what's left Lockland officials with sweaty palms. The aging industrial village north of Cincinnati has watched yet another one of its tax-paying factories close, leaving an uncertain future for one of the community's most visible landmarks.

"The village always has had high hopes for the site because of its prime location," Evonne Kovach, Lockland's administrator, said. "My understanding is that it will be sold at the highest bid. ... That's the scary part. We won't know until it happens."

Kovach has fielded queries from a handful of out-of-town investors studying the site. No local developers have expressed interest, she said.

Stuart B. Millner, the St. Louis-based auctioneer hired by creditor Great American Life Insurance Co. and approved by the bankruptcy court in Cincinnati, doesn't know what to expect, either.

"This is like having a big party - nobody RSVPs," he said.

Millner said the real estate consists of two main buildings used as factories - structures that either need to be demolished or undergo some renovation. There's also an office building suitable for a business to use immediately, he said.

The real estate will be sold as a single package, so investors won't be able to buy the office and leave the more challenging factory untouched.

"You take on whatever responsibility there is with the property," said Millner, who added that there are no liens or other problems with the property's title.

Yet there are environmental problems. An assessment through a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency program last year found six areas of concern, Kovach said, including asbestos, PCB transformers and on-site tanks.

Lockland also has won a $340,000 Clean Ohio grant to conduct further site tests or work if necessary, Kovach said.

Kovach said the site's unique location between the north and south lanes of I-75 should make an attractive site for developers.

"It is one that offers the greatest chance to be a destination," she said.

The Stearns Technical factory and land will be sold at a 10 a.m. auction today. All factory parts will be sold, too, at an auction that lasts through Friday. For more information, www.smbid.com

E-mail kalltucker@enquirer.com