Business Journal

By Sam Black

Minneapolis-based CSM has purchased a vacant 192,000 square foot plastics factory in Chanhassen.

CSM bought the former Emplast Inc. head quarters building for about $5.3 million. The asking price was about $7.7 million.

CB Richard Ellis brokers Tony Weinstine and Tom Bennett represented the sellers, Emplast and the estate of the company founder, Wayne Bongard, who died in 1998. Emplast shut down the building last summer.

The building, at 950 Lake Drive, includes 16,000 square feet of office space and 176,000 square feet of warehouse space and manufacturing area.

The purchase price, which was discounted to reflect the cost of a new roof, was fair for both sides and cheaper than the cost of new construction, Weinstine said.

CSM, a developer of office, industrial and hotel property around the country, owns about 70 industrial properties in the Twin Cities, including six in Chanhassen.

“The southwest is an improving market. We’re seeing some pretty good absorption within our properties,” said Dave Carland, senior vice president of development at CSM. “Industrial land is impossible to find in that quadrant and the cost of new construction is outrageous, so it seemed like a good play for us.”