The Ferry Cap & Set Screw Co. complex, a significant but long-empty group of structures on the Scranton Peninsula in Cleveland's Flats, has a new owner with a track record for residential apartment and townhouse projects.

Through 2151 Scranton Acquisition LLC, Fairview Park-based WXZ Development Co. paid $900,000 to Scranton Averell Inc. of Cleveland on Friday, March 16, for the property at that Scranton Road address, according to Cuyahoga County land records.

The property, comprising a five-story building with views of Lake Erie as well as another five sections with a total of almost 180,000 square feet of space, fronts on Scranton Road but is near Abbey Avenue and University Road. It abuts Scranton Flats, an urban park between Scranton Road and Cuyahoga River on the peninsula's south side.

Jim Wymer, WXZ president and CEO, confirmed his company's interest in the property for a Crain's story last September on trends auguring a rise in development activity on the peninsula. He said at that time he wanted to primarily pursue redeveloping the properties for residential use. The complex's namesake manufacturer exited it in 2005 for a Lakewood location.

Wymer's WXZ has bought and sold major apartment properties through the years and also built and sold townhouses in the suburbs. It has also developed multiple apartment buildings the past decade at University Circle.

The sale of the property by longtime owner Scranton Averell is the latest of several transactions on the peninsula on the west side of the curving river.

The peninsula is near downtown Cleveland and directly connects to the city's Tremont and Ohio City neighborhoods.

An affiliate of Great Lakes Brewing Co. of Ohio City bought 8 acres on the peninsula earlier this month for a potential brewing facility from EWAT Holdings LLC. That site was carved from 20 acres on the north side of the peninsula bought last August from Forest City Realty Trust (NYSE: FCE.A). Formed by real estate developers Fred Geis, Jesse Grant and Matthew Weiner, EWAT has said it is putting together a master plan for its part of the peninsula. Scranton Averell, which sold the Ferry property to WXZ's affiliate, has owned the property in trust for generations. Its holdings make up most of the other half of the peninsula not owned by EWAT.

Neither Wymer nor Thomas Stickney, whose law firm manages the trust, returned calls about the transaction by 10 a.m. on Wednesday, March 21.