Neither Imperial Sugar nor Cherokee would disclose the amount of the deal. Industry experts estimate raw land in the area sells for roughly $10 per sf. However, the value of the refinery site is impacted by the fact that it requires remediation.
"This is a complex site and it takes a lot of creativity and imagination plus the know-how to deal with an industrial site," William Schwer, EVP and general counsel of Imperial Sugar, tells GlobeSt.com. For several years, he has been tasked with selling facilities that Imperial Sugar no longer needs.
Schwer estimates the sale will be completed by the end of this year. "It's been a very long process," he says, "and we have a long way to go." He stresses it's premature to forecast a date for completion of any redevelopment.
Cherokee, the nation's largest and most active acquirer of idled industrial sites, also says it's far too early to outline any specific plans for the site. Cherokee's Richard Ochab cites the 760-acre Meadowlands in New Jersey as an example. The site, with four landfills and protected wetlands, will cost about $1 billion and take a decade to redevelop.
Imperial Sugar and Cherokee started exploring ways to redevelop the site in early 2003 after Sugar Land Mayor Dave Wallace heard the redevelopment firm's CEO Thomas Darden speak at the US Conference of Mayors. Wallace approached Darden and suggested Cherokee take a look at the Imperial Sugar site, Ochab tells GlobeSt.com. At the conference, Cherokee committed to a joint effort with the organization to help municipalities transform former industrial sites.
Imperial Sugar shut down the Sugar Land refinery in May 2003 and moved the operations to Gramercy, LA. About 40 acres of the 160-acre site holds sugar processing buildings built in the early 1900s. Cherokee will preserve the historic buildings, including a water tower and nine-story char house. "These buildings are landmarks for Sugar Land," Schwer says. The sugar giant has no plans to sell or shut down its nearby corporate headquarters at 1 Imperial Square, where 200 workers office.
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