The old Trump plant – or more recently General Coach is presently in the process of being sold and the new owner is planning on re-opening the large building for the construction of “high end” manufactured homes.

Town of Oliver was asked Monday for permission to grant a building encroachment easement as the plant is sitting, in part, on municipal right of way. Over three feet at one point. All the costs of legal work will be borne by the purchaser.

Trent Sismey, who represents a group of Penticton based investors, is finalizing the purchase of this land owned by Thor Industries at 310 Co-op Avenue. Sismey told council his investors want to buy all the equipment and the building and get to work constructing homes for purchasers in hurry to construct a home in many areas of Alberta and BC. He indicated that the market being looked at is – where the time frame for a “stick built” home is too long. With a manufactured home – once footings, crawl space or basement concrete is set on a lot – sections of a manufactured home can be constructed within weeks, not months. The Thor Industries property is listed for $600 thousand on MLS.

If all goes well, the plant will hire a number of people locally. 38 people were laid off October 15, 2009 at General Coach. Council was told other businesses have also expressed an interest in using the warehouse space in a partnership including a local building contractor.

All of council seemed extremely pleased with the possibility of more good news for Oliver.

Sismey is a graduate of SOSS (1999), a Chartered Accountant, CFO of Wildstone Construction of Penticton.