The city council in Mexico, Mo., approved a new lease agreement Tuesday with Encore Boat Builders LLC, which is operated by the former owner of Bentley Industries.
The city of Mexico and Bentley Industries, which closed in January, entered into a lease agreement in 2005, according to a report in The Mexico Ledger. In January, Bentley turned the operation over to Mercury Marine, which defaulted and had its lease terminated by the city. Mercury is a division of Brunswick Corporation and was a secured creditor of Bentley.
Encore Boat Builders completed the purchase of the inventory, equipment, fixtures and leasehold improvement from Mercury Marine, the newspaper reports. On Tuesday, the company asked the council to allow the new business to lease the property on terms and conditions similar to those leased to Bentley.
Encore made a payment of $9,439 May 12 and agreed to deliver to the city a promissory note in the amount of $84,303 as payment for the right to occupy the premises.
Steve Deese, the president of Encore Boat Builders who also owned Bentley, said Encore has purchased all of the assets from Mercury and is ready to start production, the newspaper reports. He said the company plans to start with a dozen employees and eventually rehire its original workers who want their jobs back.
"We are excited to come back," Deese told The Ledger. "We had an exceptionally good relationship before, and feel it's a good location to do our business."
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