Irwindale : Ready Pac to Sell Bonds

Irwindale’s Redevelopment Agency and Ready Pac Produce in Pasadena have completed an agreement that calls for $8.45 million in bonds to be issued in the name of the agency to raise money for Ready Pac’s new Irwindale facility.

Irwindale City Manager David Caretto said the city’s redevelopment agency has loaned its name to the taxable bonds but has been assured by its legal counsel that the city will not be liable for paying them back if Ready Pac defaults. Putting the city’s name on the bonds simply makes them more appealing to buyers, he said.

Ready Pac, which produces packages of fresh vegetables for supermarkets and institutions, needs the bond proceeds to buy equipment and renovate its 480,000-square-foot plant on Foxdale Avenue. The company, which has operated out of a smaller facility in Pasadena for 25 years, plans to employ as many as 1,000 full-time permanent employees and an additional 200 seasonal workers.

A major employer in northwest Pasadena, Ready Pac employs more than 450 people in its plant on North Fair Oaks Avenue. The company will consolidate most of its Southern California facilities within three years at the 24-acre Irwindale site.

About 150 workers from the Pasadena plant have been transferred to the Irwindale site. Company officials say most of the others will be working there by the end of the year.

Ready Pac announced the move earlier after the owners of the Irwindale property offered to lease the land with an option to buy. Company officials said it would have been more expensive to build facilities for expansion in Pasadena than to move into the existing plant in Irwindale.