Arizona firm purchased Rochester Meat Co. real estate for $13.1 million

ROCHESTER — An Arizona real estate investment firm recently paid $13.1 million for the Rochester Meat Co. facilities, which is the latest large real estate deal of this type in Rochester in June.

Rochester Meat Co. employs an estimated 240 people in Rochester.

Scottsdale, Ariz.-based Tenet Equity Funding SPE IV, Inc. purchased five parcels that include the Rochester Meat processing plant at 825 Seventh St. NW and other nearby buildings at 1232 Valleyhigh Dr. NW on June 24. Tenet bought it from Rochester Meat Land, LLC of Sauget, Ill.

Rochester Meat Land had owned the property since 2007.

Tenet describes itself as an investor in “single-tenant real estate net leased to operating companies across hundreds of different industries throughout the U.S. – helping those companies improve their capital and asset efficiency.” That means Tenet will most likely own and manage the real estate, while leasing it back to Rochester Meat.

Olmsted County estimated the combined total market value for the five Rochester Meat parcels at $3.59 million for 2025-2026.

This is the latest milestone for the 54-year-old Rochester Meat Co.

In 2024,

Rochester Meat was acquired by Kingswood Capital Management,

a Los Angeles, California-based private equity firm, as part of a larger deal involving Branding Iron Holdings.

Branding Iron is the corporate umbrella for Rochester Meats, Huisken Meat Co. in Sauk Rapids, Minnesota and Holten Meats Inc. in Sauget, Illinois. The company produces retail and wholesale products under the Brandshaw Ranch Thick & Juicy and Holten’s Chop House Steak Burgers brands, among others.

Branding Iron bought Rochester Meat

and all the assets from the privately-held JNR Holding Co. in 2007. JNR and Rochester Meat were owned by three local men — Red Courtney, Jim Hanson and Neal Karels — from 1999 to 2007.

This real estate deal echoes two other Rochester June transactions, where outside investors purchased property to lease back to business owners.

TFI Bus Portfolio, LLC, which is owned by J.P. Morgan Asset Management,

made two deals to buy properties used by First Student.

First Student is a bus company that handles transportation for Rochester Public Schools.

J.P. Morgan purchased sites at 2450 30th Ave. SE and 3212 32nd Ave. NW. On June 17, it bought the five parcels of the northwest property for $4.61 million and the five parcels of the southeast site for $6.25 million for a combined purchase price of $10.86 million.

Minnesota Department of Revenue documents show First Student agreed to lease back the properties for 15 years as part of the transactions.