Central Pre-Mix Concrete Products Co., of Spokane, has bought the assets of the former Layrite Products Co.s block-products business here from Iron Bridge Masonry Products LLC, and has begun operating Layrites former plant on Trent Avenue, which had been idle.


Iron Bridge Masonry, which was formed by 10 investors from Spokane and Seattle, bought the block-products business from Layrite last May and had been operating Layrites plant until last month, says Tim Murphy, Central Pre-Mixs president. He says that Spokane businessman Kent Hull, a founder and president of Iron Bridge Masonry, decided to sell the block business to Central Pre-Mix so that he could pursue other business ventures.


Murphy declines to disclose the terms of the transaction.


Central Pre-Mix Concrete Products, which operates its own block plant at 16310 E. Marietta, bought Iron Bridge Masonrys block-products business to expand its own production capacity, Murphy says. Prior to the purchase, Central Pre-Mixs block plant had been running 24 hours a day, seven days a week. That schedule now has been cut back to 20 hours a day, five days a week, and Central Pre-Mix has begun running a single, eight- to 10-hour shift, five days a week at the former Layrite block plant.


Central Pre-Mix is leasing that block plant from Iron Bridge LLC, a separate company that bought Layrites 14-acre plant property. It plans to continue leasing the Trent plant for at least the next two to three years, after which Murphy says he expects Central Pre-Mix to expand its own facility on Marietta.


The Trent plant employs about half of the eight to 10 people Iron Bridge Masonry had employed there. The other former Iron Bridge Masonry employees decided to seek other jobs, Murphy says.


Central Pre-Mix plans to use the Trent block plant to make specialty blocks and to continue making the Versa-lok retaining-wall systems that Iron Bridge Masonry had been producing there.


At its main plant, Central Pre-Mix will continue to produce its own Anchor Wall-brand retaining-wall system, as well as its concrete block products and its Quikrete concrete mix. Central Pre-Mixs main plant employs about 50 people.


Layrite, which had operated here for nearly 60 years, had produced and sold concrete blocks and other masonry products. It also sold fireplaces and stoves.


However, the company ran into financial problems, which came to light in fall 1997, when a company representative disclosed that Layrite planned to sell its operating assets. By the end of 1997, Layrite had sold its stove shop and its retail operation.