Last year’s announcement that the Leprino Foods Company would close its Portlaoise cheese-production facility was a shock to the area as it came with the expected loss of 130 jobs. However, the site may now provide an opportunity for another food or pharmaceutical processor to locate their operations in the town.
Leprino’s former premises, which were built for the purposes of food production in 2020, are being offered to the market by agent Colliers at a guide price of €12 million.
The main building extends to 13,132sq m (141,346sq ft) and comprises two zones. The first of these is the high-care hygiene area which comprises a series of interlinked processing halls, labs, plant rooms and an engineering workshop. The second zone is a low-care hygiene area which comprises packaging halls, storage areas, cold storage, refrigerated storage areas and ancillary plant rooms. Clear internal heights range from six to nine metres on the ground floor (approximately 83 per cent of the ground floor is eight metres and over). There are five dock levellers in the low-care area, all of which are accessed via the secure service yard.
The property also has a two-storey administration block with a canteen, changing rooms, a test kitchen, a chemistry lab and a reception area on the ground floor with open-plan offices, meeting rooms and offices on the first floor. This block measures 1,804sq m (19,417sq ft).
RM Block
The facility sits on a five-hectare (12.36-acre) site with two entrances off the main estate road. One of these access points leads to a secure yard measuring 0.9 hectares (2.1 acres) with ancillary service buildings, bulk chemical and gas silos.
The property is being sold with the benefit of an option from Laois County Council to acquire a further 5.8 hectares (14.3 acres) of land adjoining the facility.
The facility is located on the southern side of Portlaoise, Co Laois, between the town and Junction 17 of the M7 motorway, approximately 80 km from Dublin and the M50, 164 km from Cork City and 110 km from Limerick City.
Richard Bielenberg of Colliers says: “This facility is state of the art, it has been recently constructed to the highest standards to suit food, pharma or a host of other processing uses."
Prior to its closure by the Leprino Foods Company, the property had served as a facility for the production of mozzarella and buffalo cheese.
