Cobb-Vantress buys former Allens Inc. corporate office in Siloam Springs

Siloam Springs-based broiler breeder Cobb-Vantress Inc., a company of Springdale-based meat giant Tyson Foods Inc., purchased the former corporate office of vegetable producer Allens Inc. in downtown Siloam Springs for $1.5 million. The real estate records were filed Friday (May 11) at the Benton County Courthouse.

Cobb plans to transition employees into the two-story, 36,185-square-foot office building at 305 E. Main St. in the coming months. The number of employees and a timeline as to when they might start working there have yet to be determined, said Stacy Vaughn, communications manager for Cobb. Employees who will move into the building will be from a mix of departments and will relocate from the company’s corporate headquarters at 4703 U.S. Highway 412 East.

“It’s an exciting opportunity for us to expand our business and plan for the future,” Cobb President Joel Sappenfield said in a statement. “The new building offers a great centralized location with room to grow. We’re looking forward to being a part of the vibrant downtown community in Siloam Springs.”

The company’s global corporate headquarters will remain at its existing location, Sappenfield said.

No major renovations are planned for the building in downtown, Vaughn said. But minor changes are expected, such as adding the company’s branding to the building.

The building was listed on the market for only about two weeks before it went under contract with Cobb about the first of the year, said Butch Gurganus, principal for Colliers International in Rogers. Gurganus, who was the listing agent for the property, said a quick sale like this is unusual, but the building was a good fit for Cobb, since it’s a Siloam Springs-based company.

Before the sale, the building was vacant, but Gurganus was unsure for how long. It previously was an office building for a Sager Creek Vegetable Co., a company of Del Monte Foods of California. Prior to that, it was the corporate headquarters for Allens, formerly Allen Canning Co.

On Sept. 20, Del Monte announced it sold Sager Creek Vegetable Co. to McCall Farms of South Carolina. Del Monte Foods continued to be the point of service for all retail and foodservice customers of Sager Creek through early 2018, according to a news release. A Sager Creek warehouse in Springdale and two others in Siloam Springs were not part of the deal and would continue to support logistics operations of Del Monte Foods.

In 2015, Del Monte purchased Sager Creek Vegetable Co. for $75 million in cash. The latter company purchased Allens out of bankruptcy in 2014 for $124.78 million. Allens was established in 1926 and owned by the Allen family for multiple generations.

The building Cobb purchased from Sager Creek Foods Inc. in downtown Siloam Springs was built in the 1970s, and a renovation was completed in the 1990s.

In 1986, Cobb moved its corporate headquarters to Siloam Springs from Concord, Mass., and in 1994, Tyson Foods purchased the oldest pedigree broiler breeding company in the world. Cobb distributes poultry to more than 120 countries and has facilities and offices in each region worldwide. Products produced by the poultry genetics and breeding company include the Cobb500, CobbMVMale, the Cobb700 and CobbSasso.