Solo Cup selling former U.S. Steel property in Chicago

Solo Cup Company, a leading provider of disposable food service products, and Southworks Development LLC on March 27 jointly announced that Southworks Development LLC will acquire approximately 118 acres of the former United States Steel property currently owned by Solo Cup. The acquisition will add the parcel at 3333 E. 87th Street to the adjacent land already under contract to Southworks Development LLC. The transaction is expected to close on November 30, 2007, and the sale has been approved by the City of Chicago, which conducted a detailed review of the proposed redevelopment plans for the site.

Southworks Development LLC, a joint venture between Lubert Adler Funds, McCaffery Interests Inc. and Westrum Development Company, will integrate the property into a comprehensive master plan that includes the nearly 400 additional acres of former U.S. Steel land to the north. Preliminary plans encompass a major shopping center and a variety of housing options including senior living, single family and townhomes as well as high- and mid-rise multi-family units. Southworks Development LLC will also seek to attract institutional uses such as education, research, bio-medical and high-technology facilities.

“Our team is excited by the challenge and the opportunity to integrate the Solo Cup property into the overall master plan. The development will change the face of the entire southeast side of Chicago,” said Daniel McCaffery, president, McCaffery Interests Inc. “We look forward to working with the city, Alderman Pope, Alderman-elect Jackson and the entire community to make this development a success.”

Added Westrum Development CEO John Westrum, “With more than a mile of waterfront and the addition of more than 115 acres to Chicago’s lakefront parks, this will be a magnificent setting in which to build a residential community.”

“We have arrived at a solution for this property that is a win-win for everyone – the City of Chicago and its residents, the State of Illinois, Southworks Development LLC and Solo Cup,” said Robert M. Korzenski, Solo Cup Company chief executive officer. “We made it a priority to work closely with the City and the State, both initially in readying the site for development, and subsequently, while investing in our Kostner Street facility and others in the Chicago area. We are very pleased the land will now be put to its best possible use.”

When Solo Cup purchased the property from U.S. Steel in 2001, the company planned to build a new manufacturing facility on the site, but instead invested in the expansion of its 800,000-square-foot facility at 7575 S. Kostner following its acquisition of SF Holdings in 2004.