Amy’s Kitchen sells, leases back Sonoma County, Oregon, Idaho food plants in $144M deal

Amy’s Kitchen has sold all its company-owned production facilities and leased them back in a roughly $144 million deal.

New York-based real estate investment trust W.P. Carey Inc. (NYSE: WPC) last month purchased three buildings in Santa Rosa, Oregon and Idaho totaling 936,500 square feet from the Sonoma County-based maker of vegetarian packaged foods, the companies announced Thursday. Amy’s then leased the properties back for 30 years.

Here are the facilities purchased:

  • 2330 Northpoint Parkway, Santa Rosa, 107,000 square feet
  • 349 Ehrman Way, Medford, Oregon, 350,000 square feet
  • 221 Phil Meador Ave., Pocatello, Idaho, 479,500 square feet

“We are thrilled to close this transaction with Amy’s Kitchen and support their long-term growth by enabling them to unlock the capital tied up in their real estate and reinvest the proceeds into their business,” said Zachary Pasanen, executive director for investments at W.P. Carey, in the news release.

Founded in 1987, Amy’s Kitchen has grown to become the largest maker of organic vegetarian packaged foods and is the sixth largest U.S. maker of frozen dishes overall, shipping 21 million cases of food in 2020, the company said. The company makes over 180 products, all organic and vegetarian, with some of gluten-free.

In addition to Oregon and Idaho, Amy’s in the past several years has expanded production to Silicon Valley and New York.

W.P. Carey specializes in deals involving sale-leaseback, build-to-suit and single-tenant net lease properties.

Jeff Quackenbush covers wine, construction and real estate. Before the Business Journal, he wrote for Bay City News Service in San Francisco. He has a degree from Walla Walla University. Reach him at jquackenbush@busjrnl.com or 707-521-4256.

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