In November of 2009, DeNovo acquired three Newell Rubbermaid facilities including two plants in Bellwood, IL (suburban Chicago) and a facility in Rockford, IL and embarked upon an aggressive program to reposition the sites and prepare them for reuse. In just over a year's time this has been accomplished for Bellwood and we have an aggressive plan in place for the Rockford site.

The Bellwood locations were constructed in 1938 and included a combined 128,000 sf of manufacturing space. DeNovo developed and implemented a plan to complete the required remediation of the site in accordance with the Illinois Site Remediation Program. This plan was implemented over the summer of 2010, and included some industrial cleaning of the plants' facilities, demolition of a portion of the plant and removal of contaminated soil from that area. The Comprehensive No Further Action Letter was issued by the Illinois EPA on December 15, 2010 allowing both buildings to be sold to a development company who has already leased the property to a new manufacturing tenant.

The Rockford facility was constructed in 1959 and comprised more than 950,000 sf on 49 acres. The Rockford facility was utilized primarily as a metal treatment, hardware manufacturing, and distribution facility. DeNovo completed the required industrial cleaning of the interior of the facilities and simultaneously, formed a partnership with Phoenix Investors to redevelop the facility into a multi-tenant flex office, light industrial and distribution center. The construction on the facility has begun, and portions of the building are ready for occupancy.