TYRE maker Michelin has sold off 58 acres of its soon-to-shut Ballymena site and gifted the other 10 acres to the local council, with the plan ultimately to create hundreds of jobs in a new high-end enterprise park and possible logistics hub for Heathrow Airport.
The main part of the sprawling plant has been snapped up for an undisclosed sum by Holywood-headquartered Silverwood Property Developments, which already operates a business park in Craigavon.
And its new owners insist the mixed-use park on the Michelin site - which closes in June - will "breath fresh life into Ballymena", where around 2,000 jobs have been shed in the last two years.
"We already have close to a million square feet of space let in Lurgan, and that will jump to around 1.8 million sq feet when we develop this exciting new business park made up of manufacturing, office and warehouse space," said Silverwood director Darren Costello.
"Some 1,200 people are currently employed in Lurgan representing businesses from the SME to the Plc, and we expect hundreds more jobs to be created here in Ballymena," he added.
Silverwood Property Developments Ltd, which was incorporated in April 2005, had shareholder funds of more than £532,000 at March 2017 (double that of the previous year's £275,000).
Michelin announced in November 2015 that it was ending half a century of production in Ballymena, with all 840 jobs at the manufacturing plant being lost, a decision it blamed on a significant downturn in demand for truck tyres in Europe and spiralling energy costs.
But 450 of them have subsequently found new work, relocated (some to Canada, the US, France and Spain) or retired, Michelin factory manager John Milsted confirmed.
Of the 390 still on site, 200 have already formalised their exit into different jobs, self-employment or retirement, while the remaining 190 are still actively looking for work.
They will soon be put through an intensive programme of retraining and job application and interview technique advice at boot camps to prepare them for life after Michelin.
"We are ceasing rubber and tyre at the end of April, but we will keep on the employees until June to prepare the site for the end of September, when Silverwood formally take possession," Mr Milsted added.
He said that a development fund created at the time of the closure announcement pledged to help start-ups and small businesses in the area create at least 100 jobs a year for the next eight years.
"We're on track, because 198 loans have been given so far to help former workers start their own business," he added.
The French-owned tyre-maker also donated 10 acres of its Raceview Road facility to Mid and East Antrim Borough Council, which it will use bolster the area’s bid to host a Heathrow Logistics Hub (six sites in the north are currently under consideration to be involved in supporting construction work on the airport's proposed third runway expansion).
Council chief executive Anne Donaghy said: “We're fully committed to ensuring this area is widely recognised as an advanced manufacturing centre of excellence and the engine room of the Northern Ireland economy.
“We're delighted with the endorsement given by Silverwood to support the council in ensuring a significant portion of the Michelin site is to remain a key manufacturing centre and that council will be a crucial player in transforming the site which, once established, which will lead to the creation of hundreds of jobs."
She added: “Michelin is a fantastic company and has been a great employer locally. The firm must be commended for what has been an extremely responsible exit and the council welcomes the outcome of more than two years’ work culminating in the creation and safeguarding of a vital legacy for the people of our borough.”
The area's MP Ian Paisley described Silverwood's multi-million pound acquisition as "a compelling, imaginative and creative" offer for the site and added: "There will now be life after Michelin in the employment sphere, and Ballymena has again pulled itself up by the boot-straps".
Mid and East Antrim mayor Paul Reid praised Michelin for brokering a deal which gifted the council 10 acres of land and said: “Ballymena is full of talented, hard-working people, and this agreement will go a long way to helping the town flourish.”
