A Los Angeles-based developer of the former General Motors assembly plant in Moraine is considering another automotive plant in the Dayton area, one that already has a busy tenant.

Industrial Realty Group is investigating the purchase of the Tenneco plant at 2555 Woodman Drive in Kettering, industrial property developer Chris Semarjian said Thursday. Semarjian, of Cleveland’s Industrial Commerce Ltd., is partnering with IRG principal Stu Lichter on his Ohio deals.

Tenneco would remain in the plant, Semarjian said. The plant produces shock absorbers and struts primarily for General Motors passenger vehicles and employs about 390 workers.

A purchase could be completed in about two months, Semarjian said.

In June 2008, Tenneco leased about 40 percent of the Woodman Drive plant from a then-bankrupt Delphi Corp. Tenneco made the move as the worst recession in decades shook up the nation’s economy and auto sales started slumping. Semarjian said Tenneco is now the building’s owner.

IRG has other projects in the Dayton area besides the former sport utility vehicle assembly plant at Ohio 741 and West Stroop Road. IRG also plans to develop the former United Parcel Service hub near the Dayton International Airport.

Semarjian said IRG is near announcing deals at both the former GM plant and the former UPS facility, which it now calls Air Commerce.

IRG specializes in finding new users and new uses for industrial facilities. In recent years, the company has brought a tenant to a former Delphi building near the University of Dayton Arena.

Recently, Moraine officials said WCR Inc. — a Dayton producer of plate heat exchangers — was expected to move to the former GM-Moraine plant, which IRG now calls Progress Park.

GM closed the Moraine assembly plant in December 2008, putting about 1,000 people out of work. IRG principals closed on that plant in June 2011. They have said they intend to bring multiple tenants to the site, eventually employing 2,000 people.

Semarjian remains confident. “It’s taken longer than we thought, but we’re getting really good feedback right now,” he said.