Former Del Monte plant in Sleepy Eye sells for $600,000

The sale of the long-shuttered Del Monte vegetable canning plant to the city of Sleepy Eye has been finalized.

Sleepy Eye Public Utilities bought the 215,000-square-foot facility for $600,000, said Mike Hardin, director of public utilities for the city of about 3,500 residents.

“We just wanted to try what we could do, what we could to get it back into an operating facility of some sort,” Hardin said. “[It] probably won’t be a food facility but just get the building back up and hopefully bring some jobs to town and help with economic growth here.”

The facility is in good shape, said Hardin.

The Del Monte plant opened in 1930. For most of its nearly 80 years in operation, workers there canned peas and sweet corn, much of it grown by farmers in the area. Del Monte closed the facility in 2019, stunning the community. It was Sleepy Eye’s largest employer, and more than 360 employees were laid off. 

Seneca Foods bought the building in 2020 and later sold it to a pet food manufacturer. The facility was sold again to an investment firm. It eventually went into foreclosure, resulting in the property getting put up for auction.

Some interested businesses have reached out to the city about the property, but Hardin said nothing is set in stone for the property’s future use.

“We want to utilize as much of the facility as possible,” he said. “And we just need to figure out what the best route is to do that.”