Beet Sugar Factory
September 16, 2009 11 Comments
Right in downtown Glendale, just off the main street (Glendale Ave.), there is the shell of what was supposed to be the busiest factory in the West Valley. The Sugar Beet Factory was built, changed hands several times and prdouced sugar from 1903-1913. Although it was written up as a failure in the business books, its spirit and the potential it showed helped the small community of Glendale grow and open its eyes to new possibilities.
Now it is owned by a private investor, and there have been all kinds of ideas and false starts on what is to become of it (clean it up because of its historical preservation status, razed to the ground, etc.), I think I have an extremely cool idea: Sugar Beet Lofts!
It will become a two-story, New York style warehouse/factory converted loft apartment homes!
The windows are huge, meaning all that beautiful light could just stream on in! The roof is nice and flat, allowing for maximum use for solar panels (and after hours stargazing), and the bottom picture shows a smaller building (maybe foreman’s offices?) That would make an amazing caretaker office/toolshed.
Now if someone wants to give me the couple million dollars it would take to make this happen, I know people would be scrambling left and right to buy into this piece of history turned urban recycling-chic!
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The factory was purchased by a private party and has been cleaned up. Renovation should start soon starting with the roof. How ever it will not be made into Lofts which is a fantastic idea by the way, it will be used for a business venture that will hopefully be around for a very long time!
Cheers!
John
Well, I knew my Lofts were a long shot, but I’m so happy someone will be fixing it up!
Forgot to mention the building thats shown as the body shop wasnt included in the purchase unfortunatley, but I know an offer was made for the rest of the original Beet Sugar factory. Lets hope the current owner takes it so it doesnt sit empty!
Cheers!
John
How funny! The reason I started looking for info on this building is because I too thought it would make GREAT townhouses/lofts. It is such a beautiful building. Wish I had the 2+ mil to fix it up, live it in and rent it out. Neat blog page! Thanks!
The building was never owned by the city
You are right, I misread my info! The new owners were in talks with the city planning departments for ideas and help on how to give it a facelift, and/or what it could be used for-thanks!
Trivia note 1: Elsewhere it’s noted that a soda manufacturer bottled a citrus drink in the shell, using citrus from Mesa & Gilbert, brought in by railroad. Was supposedly a small operation, and when the railroad abandoned the tracks due to not enough business, it closed down.
Trivia note 2: The smaller building towards Gelndale Ave. was the power plant for the factory, and once had a tall chimney that was pulled down when it deteriated too much.
Note 1. That was Squirt soda!
Note 2. The stack was struck by lightning which caused most of the deterioration.
They’re supposed to have a press release sometime this month about the new use for the building. 7-2011
Keep an eye out!
I spent several wonderful Saturday mornings with my dad, Roy Hugh, at the lab at the Squirt plant as we called it. He was the chemist who worked with quality control and flavor development for the Squirt Company until they closed the Glendale location, and moved back to Holland Michigan at Brook Bottling. Not long before he passed away, he was looking at a current Squirt can reading the ingredients and he said it seemed to still be his formula they were using…
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http://www.azcentral.com/community/glendale/articles/2011/07/31/20110731glendale-beet-sugar-factory-comeback.html
Cool! Looks like the building might be up and running by the time we celebrate Arizona’s centennial. I can’t wait to look inside! That building is captivating to me. I drive by it every couple months just to look at it and see if anything’s changed. đŸ™‚