Work continues at plant in Frederick after acquisition, property sale

FREDERICK — Operations continue at a sheet-metal manufacturing company in Frederick in the wake of its acquisition and the $14.2 million sale of its industrial property.

Maysteel Industries LLC, an Allenton, Wisconsin-based portfolio company of Littlejohn Capital LLC, in January acquired Star Precision Manufacturing Inc., a full-service sheet metal fabrication, precision machining and complete finishing services company. Then last month, an entity representing Star Precision sold the more than 100,000-square-foot manufacturing space plus about 8,000 square feet of offices at 7300 Miller Drive in the Frederick West Business Center to IA Miller Drive LLC, an entity registered to Hartland, Wisconsin and representing Investors Associated LLP. That private-equity investment group’s portfolio of industrial and retail properties already included nine other parcels in Northern Colorado, including sites in Fort Collins, Loveland, Windsor and Johnstown.

“It’s a neat play for them to cover the Midwest,” said Manuel Martin, junior vice president of Atlanta-based Bellstreet Commercial Real Estate.

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“I think it’s overall great to have new investors coming from out of state and pumping money into the area,” said Martin, who works in Bellstreet’s Denver office and represented the seller in the property transaction that closed May 13. “This is a group with a lot of money, and the more money you have in a place, the better it’s going to be kept up. It’s future-proofing this industrial space.”

Besides, Martin said, “all the other properties in the area will get appreciation from a sale with that kind of value, and that’s good from a tax-revenue perspective for Frederick. It’s an overall win-win for everyone.”

According to a news release from Maysteel, the plant in Frederick will continue to operate as Star Precision. However, calls to the company are answered with an automated “Maysteel” phone tree.

“Officially, we’re now Maysteel Colorado,” explained Patricia Hofmann, the company’s director of human revelations in Frederick, “but we still operate as Star Precision.”

Maysteel expanded its products and services as well as its geographic reach with its acquisition of Star Precision, which specializes in the fabrication of sheet metal into complex equipment serving a diverse customer base across a wide variety of industries, including utilities, telecommunications, scientific instrument, medical, data storage, and recreational vehicles, among others.

“Maysteel participates in a diverse set of defined industries that require durable sheet-metal solutions. Star Precision is a complementary addition to our growing platform as we continue to scale and diversify our metal production and machining capabilities,” Maysteel CEO Kevin Matkin said in a prepared statement. “For over 15 years, Star Precision has built its reputation serving customers in Colorado, and we hope to build on the relationships they have established to offer additional products and services across different markets. Star Precision is an essential piece to our future success and growth, and we are excited to have the company and its people as part of Maysteel.”

“It was important to me that the new owner of Star Precision share the same values for our customers and employees and take what we’ve built over the past 16 years and move the company forward,” John Wislawski, CEO and owner of Star Precision, added in the news release. “Maysteel’s local approach to serving the needs of customers is a strong cultural fit with Star Precision, and we look forward to building Star Precision’s capabilities to broader geographies. We are very pleased to be a part of Maysteel and with their additional resources, product lines and talent we will be able to better serve our customers with quality products and service.”

Max Daffron, economic-development manager for the town of Frederick, confirmed to BizWest that “they’re still in there doing work,” and Hofmann said the current employee count is 57.

Martin said the company had around 300 employees working in Frederick two decades ago and speculated that the number is lower now because “everything is moving toward automation.”