Rahway, NJ-based Calgon acquired the plant in the early 1980s, according to Harris County Appraisal District records. The property carries a 2002 assessment of about $3.5 million.

B. Kelly Parker and John F. Littman, both Cushman & Wakefield of Texas Inc.'s Houston office, represented the sellers. Littman tells GlobeSt.com that buyer plans to retrofit the 20-year-old plant so that it's better suited to its manufacturing needs. Reagans USA produces stabilizers for PVC products and other thermoplastics. The Pasadena plant also will serve as the firm's US headquarters.

Littman says increasingly stringent environmental control laws are causing some plant owners, such as Calgon, to put more chemical plants on the market. The upside, says Littman, is that investment opportunities have been created in Pasadena and surrounding areas where such plants are commonplace.