Recorder Staff
SOUTH DEERFIELD — A March 21 foreclosure auction is scheduled for Yankee Candle Co.’s leased office and warehouse buildings on Yankee Candle Way.
The candle-making giant, which has its flagship store on Routes 5 and 10 in South Deerfield and its factory in neighboring Whately, leases the 81,138-square-foot office building and the 256,340-square-foot warehouse from Deerfield Yankee Candle Acquisition LLC, a Delaware limited liability company.
Since Jan. 5, the mortgage on the property has been held by Yankee Candle Way LLC, with an address listed in the care of H.I.G. Capital LLC of Miami. Prior to that, it was held by 16 Yankee Candle Way Holdings LLC of Maryland.
An attorney for the current mortgage holder declined comment on whether the owner of the 42-acre property is in default of payments or whether a default would have predated last month’s change in lenders.
Deerfield Assessor John Coderre said he was not aware of the notice of real estate sale, which was posted in Tuesday’s Recorder.
The Yankee Candle Company Inc., which in recent years has been Franklin County’s largest employer with about 1,500 employees, more than 500 company-owned retail stores and approximately 35,000 store locations overall, is a home-grown company that was acquired in 2013 by Jarden Corp. of Rye, N.Y., which was in turn purchased last April by Newell Rubbermaid to form the new parent corporation, Newell Brands.
Yankee Candle, meanwhile, built a new manufacturing plant near Havran, in the Czech Republic that was due to open late last year, with plans to hire 300 to 400 employees within the first three years.
A company spokesman could not be reached by press time.