A Fairbury manufacturing company says it has a deal to buy the former Vise-Grip plant in DeWitt, which closed more than a year ago.

Dick Allen, who owns Prairie View Industries, said he has no immediate plans for the building but didn’t want to see it torn down.

“We had nothing planned ... but it just seemed like it would be too bad if they scrap that building out and waste it, so we wanted to buy the building and see if we can’t find something that would move into it,” Allen said.

“It was just one of those things where you had to decide if you wanted to take on a project like that when it’s available, and we made an offer and ended up with the building,” he said.

Allen, who said he hasn’t closed on the sale yet, did not disclose the terms.

The factory’s equipment was auctioned off last month, but the building itself failed to attract a bid, even with a reported minimum asking price of only $250,000.

But that auction did spark interest from buyers, said David Doolittle, spokesman for Newell Rubbermaid, which owns the building.

Doolittle would not confirm any deal to sell the plant to Prairie View, however.

“We are currently holding discussions with potential buyers,” he said.

Beyond that, he said the company would have no comment until “there is a signed contract by a purchaser of the facility.”

Vise-Grip had been synonymous with DeWitt since the early 1920s, when Danish immigrant William Petersen patented and began producing the locking pliers in the town.

His family maintained an ownership in the company until 2002, when Newell Rubbermaid, which had been a minority investor, acquired the entire

company.

Newell Rubbermaid closed a plant in Beatrice in 2003 and closed the DeWitt plant in October 2008, moving Vise-Grip manufacturing to China and leaving about 330 workers without jobs.

Those jobs aren’t likely to come back with the purchase of the factory.

Allen said he has no plans to move or expand his company, which makes metal ramps, shelves and benches, to DeWitt.

He said he hopes to attract manufacturers to the 376,000-square-foot building and is willing to subdivide if necessary.

“Hopefully we can get manufacturing, but if we can’t do that, we’ll probably use it for some storage area,” Allen said.

Mike Foley, who owns Nail Jack Tools and earlier this year had a deal to buy the building fall through, said he’s no longer interested in the building now that it has been gutted, and said he thinks it will be a tough sell to manufacturing businesses with all its equipment gone.

“Now that all the equipment has been pulled out, there’s nothing that separates it from any other building,” he said.