Polartec will put its textile plant located on close to 15 acres in Methuen and Lawrence, MA pu for auction next month with a starting bid of $1.5 million, as reported by the Boston Globe.
The manufacturing of Polartec fleece at the nearly 600,000-square-foot plant ended last year, when the company, Polartec LLC, laid off more than 200 employees and moved operations to Tennessee.
The auction is scheduled to run from May 8 to May 10 through Ten-X, an online commercial real estate platform. Bidders will be required to make a $25,000 “participation deposit,” according to the listing.
Equipment at the plant, including dryers, dyeing machines and a lint collection system, are already being liquidated through Boston-based Tiger Capital Group LLC.
Fewer than 10 union employees remain at the facility and are expected to be laid off after the property is sold, said Ethan Snow, chief of staff the New England Joint Board of Unite Here, the union that represents them.
Philadelphia-based private equity firm Versa Capital Management, which owns Polartec LLC, declined to comment on the auction. The firm purchased the property in 2007 for close to $15 million after it bought the then-Malden Mills out of bankruptcy for $44 million and renamed it Polartec.
Since purchasing the property in 2007, Polartec, which makes fleece apparel for the military and for products sold through retailers including L.L. Bean and Patagonia, has invested $6.2 million in building upgrades, according to the listing.
