Longtime Fulton Market meatpacker Morreale Meats has sold five buildings and is moving out of the neighborhood. View Full Caption SVN Chicago Commercial

WEST LOOP — Selling five buildings in red-hot Fulton Market, one of Chicago's oldest meatpackers has moved out of the area.

Morreale Meats sold five properties, at 816-20 W. Fulton Market, 216-22 N. Peoria St, 226 N. Peoria St., 813 N. Wayman St. and 314 N. Halsted St., to New York-based Thor Equities, confirmed Scott Maesel, managing director of SVN Chicago Commercial, who represented the seller in the deal. The properties sold for $36 million, Maesel said in a statement Thursday.

Thor plans to convert the historic buildings into prime retail and office space, a representative confirmed.

Hear Stephanie Lulay talk about the transformation of the West Loop.

The sites sold includes a high-profile property at the northeast corner of Fulton and Green streets directly across from The Publican and B rooklyn Bowl.

Opening in 1920 and selling meat by horse and carriage in the neighborhood, Morreale Meats is one of the oldest existing meatpackers in Chicago. The sellers were the third owners of the company since it was founded, Maesel said.

“The sale of these properties marks the end of an era for history of the meat packing industry in Fulton Market and helps shape the neighborhood going forward,” Maesel said.

Fulton Market remains one of the most sought after neighborhoods in Chicago for office, retail, entertainment and hospitality development, said Joseph Sitt, CEO of Thor Equities.

"These prime locations will help fill that need,” Sitt said.

Morreale Meats moved the company to southwest suburban Bedford Park in October, Maesel said. The owners plan to sell the business, he said.

As more trendy restaurants and shops move into the booming neighborhood, a number of meatpackers and food processors have announced plans to leave.

In October, the city's oldest fresh fish wholesaler, Isaacson and Stein Fish Co., announced it sold its buildings in Fulton Market for $9 million to make way for retail. The Fulton and Halsted site borders Morreale Meat's 816-20 W. Fulton Market property.

In June, Pastorelli Food Products, a company that has called the West Loop home since the 1930s, announced plans to sell its facility at 901 W. Lake St.

Bridgford Foods is also making plans to leave the neighborhood. In its place, the company aims to build a 13-story luxury apartment building and boutique office space at 170 and 171 N. Green St.

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