Settlement opens the door for possible sale of CC poultry plant

Bankruptcy judge lifts prohibition against transfer; owner says it has an interested buyer

By Chris Baldus

cbaldus@charlescitypress.com

A U.S. Bankruptcy Court judge has opened the door for  the sale of a poultry facility in Charles City that has sat idle for years.

In an order filed Monday in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court of the Northern District of Iowa, Judge Thad Collins lifted a prohibition blocking transfer of the Cedar River Poultry facility.

“The court’s prohibition against the transfer of the poultry facility and the equipment is extinguished,” he wrote.

“(Cedar River Poultry) is permitted to move forward with the sale of the poultry facility and equipment located in Charles City … effective immediately,” Collins wrote.

According to the court document, Cedar River Poultry “has found a purchaser who is ready, willing and able to purchase such property.”

The order also notes that Cedar River Poultry and the Bushman family have reached a settlement over issues that had led the court to prohibit transfer of the facility.

Attorney for Cedar River Poultry Thomas Fiegen confirmed that the two parties have reached an agreement through which his client will pay the Bushmans an agreed upon monetary amount to settle the dispute.

The facility’s slide began when it was Custom Poultry Processing, operated by Bushman Family Farms. It closed in January 2011, less than two months after beginning production of organic and antibiotic-free processed poultry.

Custom Poultry Processing filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy after three creditors filed involuntary bankruptcy petitions that month in an attempt to recoup money they said the poultry business owed them for goods and/or services provided.

Cedar River Poultry purchased the 43,700 square-foot processing facility out of bankruptcy court that summer. Unlike Custom Poultry Processing, which focused on the organic chicken market, Cedar River Poultry initially intended to process “head-on, feet-on spent hens” for Asian markets. The plant has sat mostly idle in the years since.