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January 23, 2008

West Warwick textile mill goes up for auction

The receiver of Riverpoint Lace Works, a textile dyeing and finishing company that has operated on Main Street, West Warwick, for more than 80 years, auctioned the assets of the company this morning.

Receiver Theodore Orson, of the law firm of Orson and Brusini, gathered before about 30 people on the second floor of the mill, at 825 Main St., to discuss the terms of the sale this morning.

The company accepted different bid amounts depending on what the buyer wanted to do with the business:

They received a $250,000 bid from a company willing to continue operating the business as is.

Two bids came in to buy the assets as scrap.

Finally, auctioneer Sal Corio, of SJ Corio Corporation in Warwick, led interested buyers through Lippett Mill to bid on individual machines and the entire contents of rooms.

Orson will calculate which offer will generate the most money for the ailing textile firm. The winning bidder has until 5 p.m. to provide a check to the company for the full amount. The winner will be announced at a press conference this evening, Orson said.

The goal is to have the business sold as a continuing business, which will allow the company's 50 or so employees to remain employed.

Riverpoint Lace boasts that its plant, erected in 1809 as the Lippitt Manufacturing company, is the "oldest continuously operated textile mill in the United States." Its current owners acquired it in 1925.

Over the decades, as the privately owned company saw many of its competitors move their operations overseas, it became increasingly difficult for the mill to continue operating.

The auction was initially scheduled for last week, but Orson postponed it to give two prospective buyers time to consider purchasing the business and keeping it going.

-- Journal Staff Writer Talia Buford

Posted by Brandie Jefferson  at 2:38 PM | Permalink

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