By Marilyn Odendahl, Truth Staff
modendahl@etruth.com
NAPPANEE -- Another piece of the defunct Monaco Coach Corp. could soon be transformed into a functioning business.
Challenger Door, maker of doors for various motor vehicles, has purchased the former Monaco Coach properties on Lincoln Street and plans to move its manufacturing operations there in early February, according to the Nappanee Office of Community and Economic Development.
The new facility will more than double the company's physical capacity to 143,000 square feet.
In a press release, Mayor Larry Thompson said seeing a local company like Challenger invest in the community is "very encouraging."
Court documents state the Monaco campus in Nappanee has been for sale since August 2008, about the time the recreational vehicle manufacturer announced plans to halt production and lay off hundreds of workers in Wakarusa, Elkhart and Nappanee. Phil Hahn & Associates Realty and Auction was retained to market the property.
Monaco Coach eventually filed for bankruptcy in March 2009. The court approved the sale of the Nappanee real estate to Air Investments Inc. for $800,000 on Dec. 22, finding the terms to be fair and the price "reasonably equivalent to the value of the property."
The relationship between Challenger and Air Investments is not explained in either the court filings or the press release from the town's economic development office.
A motion for the court to allow the purchase was filed Nov. 30. In the document, the trustee pushed for the private sale to be approved as quickly as possible because the sole buyer, Air Investments, wanted the transaction to close during its scheduled December shutdown so it could "take possession of the property and resume its operations in January." Also the trustee told the court that holding a public auction would take too much time and likely lose the buyer.
Moreover, court documents state "local officials in Elkhart County" were supportive of the quick closing because of the "expected creation of employment opportunities resulting from this sale to the buyer ...."
Neither Thompson nor Jason Hahn of the Realty company returned phone calls Wednesday afternoon.
However, a representative from the Nappanee Office of Community and Economic Development said Challenger is not currently hiring.
Challenger was started 15 months ago in Nappanee, according to the economic development office, and has about 80 employees. It produces doors for commercial, rescue and recreational vehicles as well as transit buses.