The building is situated on about 17 acres at 1999 Shepherd Road. Mike Salmen, a broker with Edina-based Equity Commercial Services, represented Quebecor in selling the plant to Johnson Brothers late last year. Johnson Bros. represented themselves, Salmen says.

Privately owned Johnson Brothers, one of the nation's largest wholesalers, now has its operations in a collection of buildings on University Avenue in St. Paul. The wholesaler will begin moving from 2285 University Avenue West overthe next several months, and expects the move will be completed in the spring, says ToddJohnson, vice president of the firm. Johnson says his firm plans to lease the property on University, but has not yet hired an outside leasing agent to represent it.

It was nearly a year ago that Montreal-based Quebecor said it would close down the plant in the wake of its acquisition of Color World, which made it the world's largest printer. The $1.4-billion deal also left it with excess printing capacity, which led to itsdecision to close down the St. Paul plant. The site was first the printing plant for Webb Publishing, which itself was bought by the late British media tycoon Robert Maxwell in the early 80s before Quebecor took it over in 1989.