Former Colonial Metals building may be up for lease — NOT SALE

JOE LINTNER | COLUMBIA SPY 

A source has told Columbia Spy that the owners of the former Colonial Metals building on North 2nd Street are considering leasing the property. According to that source, the building is not currently on the market for sale. In addition, Columbia Spy has found no public listing, filing, or other confirmation indicating the property is for sale at this time. 

Property records show the site at 500 N. 2nd Street, along with several adjoining parcels, is held under the name Columbia Reduction Company, a Pennsylvania domestic business corporation first registered in 1950 and still listed as active with the Pennsylvania Department of State. Corporate filings list Craig Friedman as secretary and treasurer, David Serls as president, and Richard Sanger as vice president.

The plant has a long industrial history under several names:

Colonial Metals Co. operated the foundry beginning in 1946, growing into one of the largest brass and bronze ingot makers in the country. The company shut its doors in June 2018, idling around 100 workers. At the time, Colonial was reportedly appealing its property tax assessment and dealing with financial strain; it's unclear whether it filed for bankruptcy before California Metal-X stepped in.

California Metal-X (CMX), a West Coast red metals and copper alloy producer, acquired Colonial's assets in early 2019 and paid off the company's outstanding debts, allowing it to avoid bankruptcy. CMX reopened the Columbia foundry that May, resuming copper-alloy ingot production using the plant's submerged electric arc furnace — a piece of equipment unique among brass and bronze facilities at the time.

SA Alloys, a subsidiary of scrap-processing firm SA Recycling, later took over the facility from CMX.

The Federal Metal Co., a red metals ingot maker based in Bedford, Ohio, acquired the plant's assets from SA Recycling in the fall of 2022, becoming the third company to own the operation since it was idled in 2018.

In the summer of 2025, Federal Metal held an online auction through PPL Group LLC for surplus assets and equipment no longer needed for its ongoing operations at the site. The sale ran from July 22 through August 5, 2025, with an in-person inspection preview on August 4, and was billed as clearing out equipment tied to the 500 N. 2nd Street facility — not a sale of the building or land itself. On July 16, 2026, there were no signs of activity observed at the building. Later that day, a company representative confirmed via phone that the Columbia location is closed.

That 2025 equipment liquidation appears to be the source of some recent confusion online about whether the property itself is for sale.