A pair of local business developers headed by Pete Buford has closed on a purchase of the building formerly occupied by Yorozu Automotive Mississippi, the developer confirmed Thursday.

B P Buford LLC, and Harold May closed the purchase “sometime last week,” he said. Buford said he has no immediate plans in store for the 92,178-square-foot building at Ceres Research and Industrial Interplex at Flowers, but hinted it would remain industrial.

“We have several people interested in buying it or renting it,” Buford said. “I’m trying to get some industry in this county.”

The building had been shown to prospective buyers several times during the past year, said Wayne Mansfield, executive director of the Warren County Port Commission, adding the commission will continue to work with the owners to place a prospect in the building.

Built in 2003 to house the auto parts supplier, the metal structure has been vacant since the plant closed in December 2008. Parts at the Warren County facility were supplied for Nissan and Chevrolet trucks and SUVs. 

Terms of the sale were unavailable. No sale price was listed on the Mississippi Development Authority’s list of available industrial sites and buildings. Also listed there are other buildings emptied in the past three years by home venting systems maker Simpson Dura-Vent and auto parts supplier CalsonicKansei, as well as a 64,000 square-foot speculative building that has gone unoccupied since it was built in 1995.

Buford’s construction firm has an active offer to demolish the Ceres Plantation House, located on the opposite side of the 1,290-acre industrial park. The company’s $23,500 offer from Vicksburg-based Buford Construction and one for $24,184 from Madison-based Bulldog Construction would raze the main structure and a smaller pool house.

Ceres was purchased in 1986 by Warren County from the heirs of the Flowers family. Recent departures of the auto parts and venting industries have been tied to market forces — in the case of Simpson and Calsonic, before most economists officially recognized the recession.

Continuing to operate at Ceres are Tyson Foods, Vicksburg Metal Products, Magnolia Metal & Plastic, a Mississippi Department of Transportation regional headquarters and the Mississippi National Guard.

Contact Danny Barrett Jr. at dbarrett@vicksburgpost.com