Country Delight wants to buy former Dean Foods plant in Huntley
Dairy products distributor Country Delight Inc. wants to buy the former Dean Foods dairy processing plant in Huntley to convert into its flagship headquarters, company officials said Wednesday.
The village board Thursday will conduct a courtesy review of a proposed special use permit for Country Delight, which for the past 50 years has worked with Dean Foods to distribute roughly 52 million pounds of milk yearly, documents show.
The meeting begins at 7 p.m. at the Huntley Village Hall, 10987 Main St.
Dean Foods' plant at 11712 Mill St., on roughly 10 acres east of Route 47 and south of Main Street, shuttered last fall leaving roughly 130 workers without jobs. It was among seven Dean Foods plants nationwide targeted for closure last year and the last vestige of Huntley's milk factories.
"While it's unfortunate to see Dean's closing down the facility, we hope to revive this asset, and continue to store and distribute milk and dairy products for Dean's and our other customers in the near term," Country Delight President Joe McMahon wrote in a letter to the village. "As our company grows, we intend to expand our distribution lines and begin production of our own, bringing back jobs to this facility."
Westmont-based Country Delight would employ roughly 75 to 105 employees at the Huntley plant, documents show.
The company has offices in Huntley and Kenosha, Wisconsin. Those operations and all employees, including truck drivers, will be consolidated at the Huntley plant, said McMahon, of Oakbrook, whose family has been in the dairy products distribution business for nearly 70 years.
"We don't have a plant anywhere else," he said. "I want to bring all our offices under one roof."
McMahon said he would continue distributing dairy products by Dean Foods and other producers.
Country Delight has been transporting milk for Dean Foods and operating out of the transportation facility on the north side of Mill Street under a special use permit allowing outside storage of vehicles by Dean Foods. The proposed purchase would not include the transportation facility.
Storage and distribution would include outside storage of 50 semi-tractor trucks, 50 semitrailers and two trucks within the parking area south of the plant. That requires approval of a special use permit by the village plan commission and village board.
McMahon said he already has an agreement with Dean Foods, and the property sale closing is dependent on the village granting the special use.
Company officials have said truck traffic will be one-third of what it was when Dean Foods was operating. Plant operating hours would be 4 a.m. to 6 p.m. weekdays, documents show.
McMahon said plans have not been finalized but the company will reassess needed upgrades upon closing on the property. Tentative improvements include painting the building exterior, renovating office areas, replacing broken dock doors, parking lot improvements, and fresh landscaping.
Dean Foods has made several improvements to the property, but the final phase comprising paving the truck parking area was never completed. Dean has promised to remove the existing gravel lot and restore the area by June 1. A maintenance building south of the plant along Dean Street might need to be repaired or demolished due to a significant portion of the roof collapsing in January, documents show.