Bean Excavating & Dirt Work remains on site at the former A.P. Green Firebrick complex, completing salvage operations.

The work is being done on land owned by Abacus Industrial Holdings out of Scottsdale, Arizona. According to Mexico economic development director Russell Runge, the excavating company is tearing down all factory buildings on the property.

For now, the three structures along Green Street, including the office building, will remain standing.

The city’s involvement with the property is limited to ensuring contractors performing salvage or other work filed the proper documents. The City Council has also been approached with requests for zoning changes on two occasions.

What was a massive 900-acre facility including a research center, offices, factory buildings, railroad tracks and clay ponds is now a patchwork owned by several companies and individuals. Environmental Liability Transfer and its affiliate Commercial Development Company originally purchased the asbestos-laden site in 2006 after the brick making plant then known as ANH Refractories and mired in asbestos lawsuits shut down. They cleaned the property of asbestos, petroleum hydrocarbons and other waste, selling portions and refurbishing the factory.

The factory reopened briefly as Mid America Brick with Frank Cordie at its head, producing masonry for home construction. But with the country emerging slowly from recession, Runge says, “the housing crash put him under.”

Since Shamrock Assets purchased the site in 2016 from bankruptcy court, the property has been parceled out further, to both companies and individuals. Abacus owns a large swath that includes the factory buildings. ELT still holds plots. Geeding Properties owns pieces of land near the ponds. At least five other people or investment groups, including Shamrock, control parcels of various sizes.

This summer, Paris resident Adair Hathaway signed a contract with Geeding for a small plot on which to build a family home and a distillery. The request for rezoning from heavy industrial use reached the City Council with a recommendation for approval by the Planning and Zoning Commission, but Hathaway backed away from his agreement with the real estate company.

Nathan Geeding, owner of the Troy-based company, approached the city with a plan to build single family homes. The rezoning proposal was passed by the council in mid September.

“We will keep working with the different owners,” Runge.

The excavating company out of Kiln, Mississippi, has been working at the site throughout the fall. Owner Jamie Bean did not return calls for comment.