By Stefan Yablonski
There is new life at part of the former Miller Brewery in Volney.
MLT Leasing LLC purchased the old can plant building near the former Miller Brewery in Volney in 2021. The company spent about $2.5 million the last two years to renovate the dilapidated building.
The site got a new tenant this spring.
Irby Utilities, a distributor of electrical parts and equipment, relocated to the 130,000-sq.-ft. building.
“We moved in in March,” said Jamie Diak, northeast district manager said. “We lease it off MLT, they own the facility.”
“We are an electrical distributor. We service the utility market,” he added. “So, we store our supplies here and then ship them out to our customers.”
Irby Electric is part of the Sonepar Group.
“They are a global company. They are out of Paris, France. They’re our parent company and they own several operating companies, with Irby being one of them,” Diak said.
Besides Fulton, Irby has facilities in Denver, Colorado; Fort Worth, Texas; Kennesaw, Georgia and several other cities around the country.
Irby is an electrical supply distributor providing total electrical solutions.
Previously, the company had a location on Buckley Road in Liverpool.
“We were there for 25 years. Before that we were over on Thompson Road. We have been in the area for 50 plus years.”
At the Fulton facility Irby has about 35 employees.
They have a 10-year lease — “so we think that this building will satisfy our needs for 10 years. We are expanding the yard a little bit. When all is said and done, we will have 10 acres of yard space,” Diak said. “So we are doing that; and once that is done we think we will have what we need for the next 10 years. And after that, we’ll see.”
Sonepar, Irby’s parent company, is an independent family-owned company with global market leadership in distribution of electrical products, solutions and related services. Through a network of 80 brands spanning 40 countries, the group has an ambitious transformation agenda to become the first global electrical distributor to provide a fully digitalized and synchronized omnichannel experience to all customers.
