Flowers Foods Inc. paid $4.39 million for the former Hostess bakery in North Jacksonville, one of 20 bakeries and five bread brands it acquired during the bankruptcy of snack-maker Hostess Brands Inc.
Through Busch Drive Baking Co. of Jacksonville LLC, Flowers Foods bought the 141,833-square-foot bakery on 10.8 acres at 201 Busch Drive E. in Imeson International Industrial Park.
The deed was signed July 19 and recorded Friday with the Duval County Clerk of Court. The sale price was the property's 2012 taxable value.
Thomasville, Ga.-based Flowers submitted the winning bid in U.S. Bankruptcy Court earlier this year to buy most of Hostess' bread business, which included the shuttered bakery in Jacksonville.
However, Flowers already owns one Jacksonville bread bakery and has not said if it intends to operate both. A spokesman has not responded to questions about the plans.
Flowers in January bid $360 million to buy the former Hostess bakeries, which were shut down in November after Hostess filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
The Hostess bakery in North Jacksonville employed 128 people when it closed. Duval County property records show it was built in 1993.
Flowers is buying five bread brands from Hostess: Wonder, Merita, Nature's Pride, Home Pride and Butternut.
The Hostess bakery in Jacksonville produced Merita bread. The Flowers bakery in Jacksonville produces bread and buns under the Nature's Own and Sunbeam brands.
The Flowers bakery in Northwest Jacksonville is owned by Flowers Baking Co. of Jacksonville Inc.
The plant at 2261 W. 30th St. is older and smaller than the Hostess plant.
Records show the Flowers plant comprises 127,531 square feet of space on 7.6 acres with a taxable value of $1.56 million. It was built in 1965.
The Hostess plant is 7 miles northeast of the Flowers plant.
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