Food shipping firm in deal to buy part of former Frankford Arsenal
The selection of Honor Foods' parent, Burris, to develop the property comes six months after officials issued an invitation for prospective buyers to propose plans for the site.
The parent company of Honor Foods, the packaged-food distributor, plans to acquire part of the Frankford Arsenal munitions plant in Philadelphia's Bridesburg section for a new headquarters and shipping center.
Directors of the Philadelphia Authority for Industrial Development, which owns the site on behalf of the city, are scheduled to vote Tuesday on a resolution approving the sale of the 26-acre property at 5501 Tacony St. to Burris Logistics of Milford, Del., according to an agenda published on the agency's website.
The selection of Burris to develop the property comes six months after officials issued an invitation for prospective buyers to propose plans for the site.
Burris was chosen based on its proposal to spend $43 million to build a 264,290-square-foot facility on the property to serve as a new headquarters and refrigerated distribution hub for Honor Foods, which has been based on North Fifth Street in the city's Kensington neighborhood since 1983, according to background material accompanying the PAID resolution.
Building the new facility will allow Burris to add 70 full-time workers to its 109-person staff, according to the material.
Messages seeking additional details from Burris and Honor Foods were not immediately returned.
PAID directors are also scheduled to vote Tuesday on a resolution to sell another, four-acre section of the 5501 Tacony St. arsenal property to real estate investment firm Alliance Partners HSP LLC of Bryn Mawr for $905,000, according to the agenda.
Alliance HSP plans to convert that land into a parking lot for six Frankford Arsenal buildings it acquired earlier this year that it is seeking to fill with commercial and industrial tenants.