The former Russell Stover manufacturing plant is heading to a foreclosure sale after the owners defaulted on their agreement with their lender.
The sale will take place at 10 a.m. Wednesday, June 5 at Friendship Hall in the Montrose County Fairgrounds.
The owners of the building had a purchase contract with a potential buyer that was looking to occupy the building. The purchasers sought an extension on the contract, but the owners declined.
So the building will be auctioned off.
“I have been reaching out to companies and investors who have been interested in purchasing the facility to notify them of the sale in hopes of getting some good bids,” said Sandy Head, Montrose Economic Development Corporation executive director.
The roughly 280,000 square-foot building has sat vacant since 2020, when Russell Stover closed the plant. At the time, Russell Stover was one of the largest employers in Montrose.
In 2021, Benezet Realty Partners, LLC purchased the building and the acreage upon which it sits for $4.5 million. Montrose Cold Storage LLC is the most recent buyer — the one that defaulted, leading to foreclosure.
Interested parties, who ultimately didn’t bite on the purchase of the building, have included the country’s fourth-largest salsa manufacturer.
“I believe there’s going to be several bidders, hopefully,” Head told the Montrose Business Times on Thursday. “We are hoping it will make certain parties whole (financially), but what’s happening right now certainly won’t make certain people whole.”
Of six potential purchasers Head has reached out to specifically, only two are specific businesses who might make the facility operational.
Sixty percent are other developers.
“The people I’m working with right now are more of the developer types of people,” she said. “If no one bids this up, it could end up in the hands of the senior lender… In a perfect world, someone would buy the building and use it, but that doesn’t appear like that’s probable.”
Clarification: This story was changed to show Montrose Cold Storage is the buyer who defaulted, leading to foreclosure.
