LAWRENCE — The Levis Paper Co., which has had a presence in the city since the 1940s, has moved out of its mill building at the corner of Union and Canal streets.
Company president Joe Levis said yesterday his family sold the 52,000-square-foot mill and nearby parking lot to Luis and Juan Yepez, who already own the former Plymouth Mill building at 25 Marston St.
"A lot of emotion that went with the sale," said Levis, whose father started Levis Paper Co. on Jackson Street.
His father quickly outgrew the original site and moved the company into what is commonly known as the Levis Paper mill in the late 1940s.
"My father, Joseph, started Levis, moved it to Canal Street when he bought the building, and that business has operated out of there until last week," he said.
Levis has moved its operations and all its equipment to the Crusader Paper Co. plant at 350 Holt Road in North Andover, which the family also owns and runs.
Crusader Paper makes paperboard used in boxes; Levis Paper sells newsprint and food packaging paper, among other industrial products. The North Andover plant, which employs 50 or 60 people, is being expanded from 104,000 square feet to 120,000 square feet to accommodate the move from Canal Street.
Levis said he was happy to be selling to the Yepez brothers and their growing, family-owned business.
"They are good people," he said. "They have the city of Lawrence at heart. They're a good employer, they're involved in good projects and we wish them the best of luck."
Juan Yepez and his brother run MainStream Global, which buys used and surplus computer parts and repackages and sells them to small and large companies around the globe.
MainStream Global uses about 50,000 square feet of the Marston Street building for storage. But the brothers are converting that building into an office complex and needed to find a new place for storage.
Over the last year or so, Levis said he has been in discussions with the Yepez brothers over the sale of the 52,000-square-foot mill, which includes a parking lot on the other side of Marston Street from the building.
Last Tuesday, they passed papers, making the $1.16 million sale final.
Juan Yepez said that for the next two to three years, while the Marston Street project is finished, MainStream Global will use the former Levis property on Canal Street for storage. Eventually, however, he expects to move MainStream again, especially if it continues to grow.
"In two or three years, we might be looking for additional space if the business keeps growing," he said. "Right now, we need 50,000 square feet of space, but if that doesn't give us the growth that we need, we may end up looking at another warehouse in the city."
In that case, he said, the Canal Street building would also likely be converted into an office building. He noted that the site of the International Foods property next door is slated to become a federal immigration office and said he would like to convert the Levis building into a complementary use, with offices for attorneys and possibly a restaurant for employees.
Meanwhile, work continues on the building the Yepez brothers own on Marston Street.
Juan Yepez said the work is nearly done, but he is waiting for approval for a 170-space parking garage over the building's existing parking lot. The lot doesn't have enough parking for the several hundred people who will end up working in the 100,000-square-foot former Plymouth Mill.
Yepez said the three-level parking garage would be accessible from Marston Street, as well as from the ground-level driveway that currently enters the site.
"We should be breaking ground on the parking garage in the next 45 to 75 days," he said. The garage should be done by the end of this year, creating a total of nearly 300 spaces on the site. The garage will be connected to the office building at every level so employees don't have to use a stairwell or an elevator to get into the building.
"We feel confident that by putting the parking garage in, we'll have the building fully leased out no later than the summer of 2009," he said.
Six to eight professional office tenants have already expressed strong interest in locating in the Marston Street building. The Yepez brothers bought the Marston Street mill in 2006 from Adden Furniture.
The brothers are also involved in the Union Crossing project, which seeks to renovate the Southwick Clothing complex off Union and Island streets into a mixed-use of retail, offices and housing. The Yepezes will end up owning the building closest to Union Street, which they hope to convert to offices on the upper floors and retail on the street level.
