Hogs? headquarters

The former headquarters building of Hudson Foods Inc. in Rogers is now being used by Tyson Foods Inc. to house the poultry giant’s pork division and animal foods ingredient group.

Tyson Foods acquired Hudson Foods last January. Speculation at the time was that Tyson would sell the 32,000-SF Hudson headquarters building, which, along with 27 acres of land at the site, is valued at about $1 million.

Constructed in 1972, the original headquarters building was 6,400 SF and built on the same floor plan as a chicken house, since that’s what James T. “Red” Hudson, founder of the company, was used to building. Several additions to the building brought the size to about 32,000 SF by the time Tyson Foods took over the company.

Tyson Foods stopped processing pork and beef in 1996 but still maintains a pork division that raises and markets live swine. Tyson Foods sells about 1.6 million hogs a year on a contract basis, says Ed Nicholson, a spokesman for the company.

The animal foods ingredient group controls several rendering plants around the country that converts offal into animal feed ingredients.