Someone may be interested in using part of the former Avtex Fibers plant in Front Royal as warehouse space, an FMC Corp., attorney said Friday.

Robert J. Fields said he was contacted about six weeks ago by someone inquiring about using about 20,000 square feet or more for a warehouse. He declined to identify the person, with whom he met last week to discuss the situation at the plant, but said it was a "a genuine expression of interest" on the part of a "real live possibility, (not) someone who is just fishing."

He also declined to identify the products that would be warehoused, but said they are " absolutely innocuous" and not in anyway hazardous or harmful.

The person approached the company because he knew of FMC’s involvement at the site. FMC is a past owner of the plant and is liable for paying for part of the environmental cleanup of the former rayon plant.

Fields called the inquiry "great news. It shows us that there is demand for warehousing and perhaps light manufacturing" at the site, which has been vacant except for cleanup crews off and on since the plant closed three years ago this month.

He said he explained everything about the site to his contact, including the fact that its a Environmental Protection Agency Superfund site and that Avtex Fibers is in bankruptcy court.

Representatives of Mazza Engineering Associates Inc., which was hired by FMC to do a redevelopment study of the plant, arrived at the site Wednesday, Fields said.

Their job is to study the buildings and utilities to determine their feasibility for reuse. The study’s field work will take several weeks and writing the report will take additional weeks.

When the study is in hand, fields said it will give the Industrial Redevelopment committee, a local group formed to promote the plant’s reuse, a better idea of what areas of the plant can be reused and what it will take to reuse them.

The EPA would have to release any property form the Superfund listing before it could be reused.

The plant contains hundreds of thousand of square feet of warehouses and office spaces that appear to be uncontaminated or have just slight problems, official have said.