WATERTOWN — Convalt Energy is purchasing two buildings that were once part of the city’s industrial history and now will be used to store solar panel manufacturing equipment being transported from Oregon.
The two buildings — the original New York Air Brake building on Purdy Street and a part of the Black Clawson complex on Pearl Street — will be used for warehousing until the company’s mammoth solar panel manufacturing plant in the town of Hounsfield is in operation.
David J. Zembiec, CEO of Jefferson County Economic Development, confirmed that the company will use both buildings for storage.
Equipment from a defunct solar panel plant in Oregon started arriving by truck on Monday. More than 200 trucks are hauling the equipment from a former SunPower Corp. factory in Oregon.
“They started rolling in,” Mr. Zembiec said. “They expected them to come in on Tuesday and they started coming in on Monday.”
The former Black Clawson building at 511 Pearl St., most recently used by a metal scrap company, is a 70,000-square-foot warehouse, while the Air Brake structure, at 100 Purdy St., is currently 52,000 square feet.
