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A Solid Beginning

Scott Yoder has been in the real estate investment business for quite some time. In fact, he grew up in the business, as well as in the used industrial machinery acquisition and auction business. He began his career working with his father, John Yoder.

Now he has come full circle.

In 1977, his father started the company from his bedroom. When the business outgrew his home base, he moved the company to a 2,500 square foot building on Angola Road. Shortly thereafter, his father had the opportunity to buy the old Lucas Steel Building near Swayne Field, which was vacant. The Yoders made the building habitable and used it for storing some of the heavy-duty equipment they bought and sold. The remaining space was available for lease and The Auburndale Company was one of the first tenants in the building, which had been renamed Glass City Warehouse Project.

There, Scott Yoder met Bud Romanoff in the early 1980’s. Romanoff was also involved in the real estate investment community. He bought and rehabilitated vacant industrial buildings. Romanoff also had a used motor company called Ontario Motor Equipment.

Romanoff and Scott Yoder began to share information and provided assistance that the other needed as problems arose. Scott Yoder recalls requesting the use of a heavy-duty forklift from Romanoff when a huge piece of equipment was too heavy for the Yoder's 20-ton crane to lift. Romanoff agreed.

Scott Yoder said he shined up the forklift and made it look like new before they returned it. Later Romanoff stopped by and said, "What did you do to my forklift.” Fearing the worst, Scott Yoder said, "Gosh, we left it and it was working fine.” To that Romanoff said, "It's never looked so good; I hardly recognized it."

From there a friendship developed between the two. Scott Yoder working with J&G Industries continued to expand the machinery business. J&G specialized in buying and selling industrial plants that were being shut down. "We renovated them and converted them into multi-tenant space," stated Yoder.

Some of those include the City Auto Stamping Building, Surface Combustion on Dorr Street, a 300,000 square foot building; the 200,000 square foot Schindler Haughton Building; Toledo Molding in Ampoint, another 80,000 square foot facility and the Doehler Jarvis building. J&G and Associates also purchased the Reichert Stamping building and leased it back to the company. Five years later the Reicherts reacquired that building.

Meanwhile, in December of 1988, Romanoff was quite ill. He approached Scott Yoder to take over his real estate holdings. The deal was consummated soon after, just two months before Romanoff's death. One of the properties in the deal was the 80,000 square-foot industrial building at 1050 Westwood Ave.

Twelve years later Scott Yoder left J&G Industries, to start his own company, G-2000, Inc., a real estate investment and industrial equipment auction and appraisal company. He began the search for an appropriate facility to launch his business. A friend mentioned the 1050 Westwood building and he immediately set out to buy his partners out. The building had once housed an Owens Illinois facility. The industrial portion of the building was an 80,000 square foot space, which Scott Yoder has renovated. One of the first items replaced were the windows. 900 Plexiglas panes were installed to replace the old, broken ones. Yoder then purchased a used 35-ton crane and fixed the old 30-ton crane still in the building from 1941, repaired the roof and replaced overhead doors. He added new doors to bring the total number of doors up to five. The office portion of the building, a separate entity which is on Westwood, had been vacant for over twelve years. This was Romanoff's last office and real estate acquisition of his long career. Yoder redid the entire interior and new windows throughout. The exterior of the building has been painted. The buckeye tree, which had been there for many years, the same tree he now cherishes and Romanoff spoke so affectionately about, is still bearing fruit.

According to Yoder, the Bliss Corporation once owned the Westwood building. The company made presses and had acquired the former Toledo Press Co., which it built new. The irony was not lost on the Yoder family. Toledo Press was the name picked by Scott Yoder for a joint venture that his family company had with a Chinese firm in Beijing.

While he and his father are no longer in business together, he credits his dad and Bud Romanoff for much of his success. “I am very proud of my dad and what he's taught me through the years."

He also credits Romanoff with his success. "I am starting my business from the same place that Bud occupied during the last years of his lengthy career. The one constant is the lucky buckeye tree, which continues to flourish. Recently, I talked with the Bundes, who have had a business on Laskey Road, Toledo, OH for many years. I was telling them the story of how my company was located in the Westwood building and the significance of the buckeye tree and the buckeyes that it has produced. I told Mr. Bunde, Sr. that I carry two of those buckeyes in my pocket all the time and consider them my lucky buckeyes. Mr. Bunde, who is near 90, smiled and reached into his pocket and produced the two buckeyes that he has carried for many years as well."

Scott Yoder says his story is a tribute to Bud Romanoff, his family and whoever believes in the old adage, "good things happen for a reason.” Yoder lives by the motto "Never give up and keep the faith."