Provender buys warehouse used to package vaccines for $30M

The property has housed a vaccine distribution center for a year

The Manteno Warehouse at 125 Sycamore Rd in Manteno, IL (LoopNet, Google Maps)
The Manteno Warehouse at 125 Sycamore Rd in Manteno, IL (LoopNet, Google Maps)

Provender Partners plunked down $30 million for a warehouse in Manteno, outside Chicago, that had been vacant before being used for the past year to assemble and ship Covid-19 vaccines.

Provender, which also owns a food processing facility in suburban Berkeley, bought the 570,000-square-foot property on Sycamore Road from Cardinal Industrial, Crain’s Chicago Business reported. After the warehouse lost its two tenants in late 2019, pharmaceutical distributor McKesson leased the building to house almost 600 workers

The California investment firm paid less than the $33.5 million asking price because McKesson’s lease expires next October, meaning the building could soon be empty again. Cardinal sold the property before its $19.7-million mortgage matures in May because it can’t refinance due to the vacancy risk and the lender won’t extend the loan.

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Provender is confident it can find one or more tenants if McKesson does move out, Crain’s said. The temperature-controlled warehouse is equipped with infrastructure for refrigerated or frozen storage, something many food manufacturers and grocery chains are seeking. Moreover, it sits on 50 acres zoned for industrial use, giving Provender the ability to expand the warehouse or build a second building altogether.

In the meantime, McKesson workers in Manteno are packaging “ancillary supply kits” that include surgical masks, alcohol prep pads, syringes and vaccination record cards.

[Crain’s] — Victoria Pruitt