WEST LOOP — As more trendy restaurants and shops move into the neighborhood, another food processor announces plans to leave the West Loop.
Pastorelli Food Products, a company that has called the West Loop home since the 1930s, will sell their facility at 901 W. Lake St., third-generation owner Richard Pastorelli announced Wednesday.
The 12,700-square-foot facility located at the southwest corner of Lake and Peoria streets is surrounded by three sites where developers are currently pitching building proposals, Pastorelli said.
Pastorelli's announcement comes as neighboring Bridgford Foods also makes plans to move out the neighborhood. Bridgford Foods plans to build a 13-story residential building at 171 N. Green St. and a five-story building with office and retail space at 170 N. Green St., according to zoning applications.
Nearby, Tucker Development is also pitching plans to build an 18-story residential tower on a parking lot at Peoria and Lake Streets, according to a zoning application.
Pastorelli's decision to move out of the West Loop is a direct result of the company's need to increase assembly line speed and warehouse space due to increased sales and distribution reach. Loading docks and production rooms were updated in the last decade, but the increased demand exceeds the capacity of the current production sites, Pastorelli said.
“It is simply time to sell, its highest and best use is no longer a food processing facility, it needs to go vertical!” Pastorelli said of the site.
Pastorelli is now searching for an alternative production site and the West Loop site is being listed with Mark and Mike Nelson of NelsonHill Commercial Real Estate Services.
The Lake Street plant is located one block from the CTA Morgan "L" stop and near the new Google Chicago headquarters in 1KFulton and the former Harpo Studios campus.
Pastorelli Food Products was founded as a grocery store in the Depression era and began canning California tomatoes in the 1940s. In 1952, the company became the first in the world to can fully-prepared pizza sauce, and in the 1960s, began bottling oils and vinegars. Today, the company caters to retail, food services and industrial customers.
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