Just Sold: Shuttered Cokato plant gets new owner.

Byline: Anne Bretts

Editor's note: "Just Sold" is a Finance & Commerce feature based on certificates of real estate value recently filed for commercial transactions and significant residential transactions in Twin Cities counties. Additional details in the transactions come from Plat Research, the Minnesota Secretary of State's Office, company documents, online real estate listings, F&C archives, CoStar and other research. Some purchase prices and per-unit calculations have been rounded.

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An entity related to Nebraska-based Western Integrated Seed has paid $2.35 million to acquire a Cokato manufacturing building from Faribault Foods Inc., which closed it earlier this year.

Faribault Foods, a U.S. subsidiary of privately held La Costea Group in Mexico City, closed the Cokato plant after consolidating its operations in a new, nearly 1 million-square-foot building in Faribault. About 130 employees worked in the plant.

Minneapolis-based Faribault Foods closed Oct. 27 on the sale to DPAK LLC, an entity related to Western Seed Inc., based in Hooper, Nebraska. The deal included an $85,000 down payment and new financing. The price works out to $13.28 per square foot.

The property was listed for $5.95 million.

The property includes a 177,000-square-foot plant on 18.9 acres at 15403 Highway 12, about 40 minutes northwest of the Twin Cities. The oldest part of the building dates to 1924, with the main plant built in 2000 and updated since, according to marketing materials for the property. The building has 43,000 square feet of office space, 59,000 square feet of manufacturing space and 75,000 square feet of warehouse space.

The processing rooms have 21-foot clear height, with up to 27-foot clear height in the warehouse. The building has two docks and two drive-in doors.

Western Seed announced in June that it forged an agreement to take over day-to-day management of Dahlco Seeds Inc. of Cokato.

Faribault Foods has plants in Faribault and Tucson, Arizona. The company produces canned foods, including bean products, soup, pasta, chili and vegetables. It packs products under brands including S&W beans, SunVista, Luck's, Butter Kernel, Kuner's, Mrs. Grimes and private labels.

Andy Lubinski and Justin Felix of the Minneapolis office of CBRE represented the seller.

The parties couldn't be reached for comment.

Purchase price: $2.35 million, with an $850,000 down payment and new financing

Price per square foot: $13.28

Last sale: N/A; Wright County...