Colorado Real Estate Journal - November 5, 2014
A plant that produced pickles – and jobs for the southeast Colorado community of La Junta – could go back into production as a brewery. Miller Ranch Land Company LLC recently bought the former Bay Valley Foods pickle plant for $900,000 and reportedly is considering brewing beer there. The plant consists of 185,310 square feet of space in five buildings right on the main highway through the city. The buildings have “enormous” water taps with economical utility costs, specialized flooring with floor drains, fire sprinklers, rail service and other features that make the property ideal for a variety of manufacturing operations. However, it is just over an hour from the nearest major city, Pueblo. “I’m astonished that it was available as long as it was at that level … but it is in La Junta,” said Greg Knott of Unique Properties LLC-TCN Worldwide, who co-listed the property with Unique Properties’ Brad Gilpin and Tom Brann of Norm Murphy & Associates Inc. in La Junta. RMG-Pickle Factory LLC, an affiliate of ANB Bank, sold the property. A longtime employer in La Junta, the pickle factory closed in 2006, putting approximately 150 workers out of a job and destroying the market for locally grown cucumbers. A biodiesel company planned to use it to produce biodiesel from sunflowers, but those plans fell through, and the 27.46-acre property went back on the market. The buyer couldn’t be reached for comment, but there is hope the sale will return the property to a productive use within the community. “Everybody is hoping that it’s going to be a successful operation as far as a production brewery,” said Brann, adding he will be among those cheering on the new owner. “The sale of the facility has been a long time coming, and I am glad to have been a part of the process for the seller and buyer,” he said. Knott said the property is in “decent” condition, despite being nonoperational over the last several years. At one time, the plant used a million gallons of water a day. It has heavy electrical service, freezers and coolers and about 23,000 sf of office space. The buildings were built between the late 1940s and early 1970s and have been modernized.