Rifkin Relocating Saginaw Facility

Rifkin Iron & Metal is nearing completion for a new location for its Saginaw, Mich., facility. When finished, the company expects to move into a facility that is more than twice the size of its existing operation. While moving to the new location, the company will keep land where it presently operates to a type of business more conducive to the surrounding industries.

David Rifkin, owner of the company, says that the company presently is involved in significant cleanup and renovation of the former Ferro-Met site, an idled junk yard. When the company moves to the new location, sometime next year, the company will have roughly 30 acres of space, more than twice the size of its present Saginaw operation.

While many scrap metal recyclers have had a challenging time working with government entities, Rifkin says that the company worked closely with the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality, the EPA and local business development groups.

One of the biggest challenges in cleaning up the site was the significant amount of auto shredder fluff that was left at the former scrap yard. Rifkin estimates that the total amount was around 10,000 tons. The group Saginaw Futures, which also is involved in the cleanup, estimates that the former scrap yard contained 26,000 cubic yards of fluff.

With zoning and infrastructure in place, Rifkin Scrap Iron & Metal has signed a development agreement to locate a facility at the site, once the remediation has been completed (a key goal of the Saginaw Riverfront Development Commission).

In order to address the contamination and have the site prepared for redevelopment, a group of organizations teamed up to take on the project. CSX Transportation agreed to deed the land and contribute $250,000. The Michigan Department of Environmental Quality supplied a $1 million grant, along with $850,000 from the Environmental Protection Agency/Saginaw County Brownfield Redevelopment Authority (and $90,000 from the City of Saginaw).

An amendment to purchase the land was initially signed in October 2008. That amendment gave Rifkin five years after the closing date to move. However, due to delays in the program, the deadline for relocation has been moved to March 2015.

When Rifkin moves to the new location, the company will have a good portion of the facility paved and will have direct rail access. Also, when complete, the facility will have shears, balers and an auto shredder installed. The company has yet to decide whether or not the new location will relocate its existing shredder or purchase a new machine.