WARREN, MI-The company charged with finding clients interested in filling the WarrenCommerce Center said they might be close to putting in users at the 1.1million sf former tank plant.Donald Ferrari, president of Crudo Brothers, says he hopes to have twotenants take over about 700,000 sf at the large building within 45 days.Negotiations are ongoing, he said, but the end seems near. Automotivesuppliers and manufacturers may likely be the new users.

“We've been talking to a lot of potential users since July, when we tookover the facility,” Ferrari says. “It's not like we can get small users.It's a huge building, about 600 ft. by 2,000 ft., the smallest tenant wecould put in would have to use at least 100,000 sf. That's a pretty goodsize tenant in our town, it's not like we're Chicago or Los Angeles, wherethat's considered small.”

He said he's fairly confident the deal will be closed. “We've been at thetable for some time,” he says. The company lost a new construction projectat the 153-acre complex a few months ago when a planned medical facility tofront along Van Dyke Avenue was canceled.The city bought the former US Army base last year after it closed, and hasworked with the US Environmental Protection Agency and the MichiganDepartment of Environmental Quality to encourage private development at thesite.