Oppidan Completes Largest Industrial Warehouse to-Date; New Headquarters for Minnesota-Based Sweet Harvest Foods

Build-to-suit includes 360,000 square feet in Lakeville

Excelsior, Minn. – June 25 – Oppidan Investment Company, a national property development firm headquartered in Excelsior, Minn., completed a 360,000 square foot industrial warehouse, located at 21601 Galway Lane, Lakeville, Minn. This building marks the largest building by footprint developed by Oppidan in its 32-year history and the largest developed in the Twin Cities since 2022.

Oppidan’s tenant is Sweet Harvest Foods, the leader in the U.S. natural sweetener industry. The new building will serve as headquarters and distribution center for the company.

“Our Oppidan project development team, led by our Senior Vice President of Development Jay Moore, came together with Sweet Harvest Foods’ team to complete a complex build to suit in a very short period of time. It showed our entrepreneurial and agile company spirit,” said Joe Ryan, Oppidan CEO.

The building is housed on 23 acres and features a 32-foot clear height ceiling height.

Oppidan ventured into the industrial development business in 2015 and has completed nearly 5.5 million square feet in Minnesota, North Carolina, South Carolina, and California.

“We are very fortunate and we’re honored to have such fantastic partners on our team who can bring a project of this size to fruition to benefit Sweet Harvest Foods and the Lakeville community,” said Moore. “Once again, our expansive industrial development will help cultivate important job growth and positively impact the community.”

“As we fulfill our vision to be the world’s most trusted all-natural sweetener company, it’s critical that we have a central facility built to scale with our growth goals,” said Mike Carle, President & CFO, Sweet Harvest Foods. “We are proud to partner with Oppidan to develop a best-in-class building that offers the sophistication and excellence required to continue delivering the highest-quality all-natural sweeteners to our customers.”

“We’re pleased to work closely with the team at Oppidan to bring this project to reality,” said Prashanth Prabakar, COO, Sweet Harvest Foods. “The new building enables us to achieve many of our business goals, including sustainability initiatives that reduce energy consumption with high-efficiency equipment. Additionally, we’re proud of the creation of new jobs in the Twin Cities area and look forward to meaningful involvement within the greater Lakeville community.”

“We’re honored to secure the development of an industrial warehouse of this size right here in Lakeville,” said Tina Goodroad, City of Lakeville Community Development Director. “Business support is essential to helping our community thrive, and we’re thrilled to work with the Oppidan and Sweet Harvest Foods teams.”

Oppidan partnered with Westminster Capital, a real estate private equity firm based in Lake Forest, Illinois, as the project’s equity partner. The current Lakeville project represents Westminster Capital’s fourth industrial property investment in the Twin Cities metro area within the past two years and its seventh investment, including office and senior housing properties, in the metro area since 2006.

Rochon Corp. was the general contractor. Nate Erickson and Alex Baron of Transwestern represented Oppidan. Brian Nelson of Winthrop Commercial, Inc. represented Sweet Harvest Foods. Judd Welliver and Bentley Smith from CBRE helped secure financing.

Since 1991, Oppidan has continued to command attention in the commercial development industry, working with clients such as Duluth Trading Company, Ebenezer Management Services, Watermark Retirement Communities, Northern Tool + Equipment, Caliber Collison, and Supervalu, among many others. Oppidan has successfully developed 590 projects valued in excess of $4.9 billion and spanning 30.4 million square feet throughout 42 states and parts of Canada.

For more information, visit: Oppidan.com.

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About Oppidan Investment Company
Since 1991, Oppidan Investment Company has grown into a nationally recognized real estate development company, successfully developing 590 projects valued in excess of $4.9 billion and spanning 30.4 million square feet throughout 42 states and parts of Canada. Oppidan provides construction management and asset management services to the Industrial, Commercial, Senior Living, Residential, Affordable Housing and mixed-use markets. Headquartered in Excelsior, MN, with regional offices in Raleigh, NC, and San Jose, CA, Oppidan’s client list includes Watermark Retirement Communities, Ebenezer, Duluth Trading Company, Northern Tool, Cub Foods, Hornbachers, Target, Sprouts, GE Oil & Gas, Goodwill, Caliber Collision and more. Oppidan has also been named a Best Places to Work by Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal for three years in a row. To learn more about Oppidan, visit www.oppidan.com.

About Sweet Harvest Foods
Sweet Harvest Foods is the leader in the U.S. natural sweetener industry and services customers in the Ingedient, Foodservice and Retail channels. Based in Minnesota, the mission of Sweet Harvest Foods is to become the trusted worldwide leader in all-natural sweeteners by providing high-quality honey and other sweeteners through industry-leading processes and traceability. It has facilities in Minnesota and California.

About Westminster Capital
Westminster Capital manages real estate investment strategies on behalf of private wealth capital, including sponsorship of closed-end investment funds and separate account portfolios totaling more than $1.1 billion of investor capital. Westminster Capital makes commercial property investments throughout the United States across Industrial/Distribution, Apartments, Medical Office and Senior Living properties offering Value-Add to Opportunistic risk-reward returns. Such work includes rebuilding income streams of existing properties, or manufacturing them through new construction, by careful investment underwriting and pursuit of well-funded tenants motivated by powerful long-term secular changes in their needs for such properties. Founded in 1988, the firm is headquartered in Lake Forest, Illinois. To learn more about Westminster Capital, visit www.WestminsterCapitalLLC.com.