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HARTFORDBUSINESS.COM | NOVEMBER 27, 2023 9 Carla's Pasta's sprawling South Windsor food production plant for sale By Greg Bordonaro gbordonaro@hartfordbusiness.com T he parent company of Carla's Pasta, which was acquired through a bankruptcy auction in 2021, has put the company's sprawling South Windsor-based food production plant up for sale. Wisconsin-based Tribe 9 Foods has listed the 148,083-square- foot plant, at 50 Talbot Lane and 280 Nutmeg Road, for an undisclosed price. Tribe 9 Foods, which says it's a B Corporation, bought Carla's Pasta through a bankruptcy auction in 2021 for $26.3 million, and said at the time it planned to maintain local production while expanding volume and distribution. Carla's Pasta filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in February 2021, citing tens of millions of dollars in debt and the adverse impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on its sales. The company said it had about 140 employees at the time of the bankruptcy filing. Much of Carla's Pasta's debt at the time stemmed from $62 million in loans the company took out in 2017 to help finance a major expansion of its food-preparation plant at 50 Talbot Lane. It's not clear what presence Carla's Pasta/Tribe 9 Foods will have at the South Windsor plant if a sale occurs. Calls and emails for comment to Carla's Pasta/Tribe 9 Foods weren't returned. The Carla's acquisition added to Tribe 9's portfolio of gluten-free, grain-free and other non-traditional pastas. Other brands owned by the company include Taste Republic, Yumbutter and RP's Pasta, according to its website. The South Windsor property includes six pasta-based production lines, two sauce lines and a sauce puck room with freeze equipment, according to marketing materials highlighting the property. There is also one unused production area. The entire prop- erty covers 19.83 acres and has room for expansion, according to Carla's Pasta's sprawling South Windsor- based production plant at 50 Talbot Lane and 280 Nutmeg Road. PHOTO | COSTAR marketing materials. Listing materials also say that "process-specific equipment" is for sale under separate negotiations from the real estate. The brochure lists various pieces of equipment and products for sale, including numerous pastas and pressed goods, as well as freezers, flour systems and a conveyor system. The Food Properties Group and Colliers International are brokering the real estate sale, according to the listing materials.