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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowEvansville’s redevelopment commission has rebuffed an offer from Berry Plastics Group Inc. that valued a Boys & Girls Club baseball field at less than a penny on the dollar of its appraised value.
Evansville-based Berry offered $1 for the field, which is appraised at $237,750, according to the Evansville Courier & Press.
The company wants the property for an expansion of its headquarters.
The redevelopment commission gave the city’s Department of Metropolitan Development 30 days to negotiate a different bid.
Berry plans to build a $20.9 million headquarters that would retain 212 workers and add 250 more. Berry employs a total of about 1,100 in Evansville.
The offer for the baseball field was the second time in nearly as many months that Berry ruffled feathers of local officials. In August, Berry sought economic development incentives after launching construction of an addition to its tool shop.
Berry is owned by Evansville-based New Berry Holding, which resulted from the March 2007 merger of Berry Plastics Group Inc., headquartered in Evansville, and Covalence Specialty Materials Holding Corp. of Bedminster, N.J.
Apollo Management, a New York private equity firm, owned Covalence and still owns the combined company.
Berry specialized in manufacturing plastic cups like those used by fast-food restaurants, while Covalence focused on flexible packaging including Rhino-X trash bags and Film-Gard plastic sheets.
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