Coolidge Properties has always intended to divide the plant into a kind of for-profit industrial park. Delays in closing the sale have been attributed to a previous lack of interested parties to rent or buy some of the space from Coolidge. Bailey did confirm that he now had potential tenants. An ethanol plant has signed on, Bailey said. Ethanol is an alcohol produced from agricultural products, such as sugar cane or corn.
Ethanol is said to burn more cleanly than gasoline, but it can also corrode some engine parts.
The Miller plant, with its abundant water and many massive food-grade tanks once used to brew beer, could be an ideal place to distill ethanol. There have been a number of associated projects talked about, Treadwell said. Several fuel type projects have been among them. The facility has more than one million square feet of office and work space under its roofs. Miller's plant sits on 423 acres of land, some of it undeveloped.