ROCHELLE – Two major food companies are moving into the city's industrial park, continuing a development boom in the Hub City and filling the 13-acre ProLogis warehouse project.

Bay Valley Foods, a subsidiary of TreeHouse Foods with a canning plant in Dixon, leased 156,000 square feet of space in November; Del Monte Foods leased 209,000 square feet in December, city officials announced Monday.

Exactly how many jobs the two deals will bring remains an unknown for city officials, who said Monday the industrial park has brought about 160 new jobs over the past year.

Jason Anderson, Rochelle's economic development director, called the Del Monte and Bay Valley leases "another big deal for Rochelle."

"This is probably the biggest warehouse in the Bay Valley system," Anderson said.

The Hub City now has three major food suppliers shipping on intersecting interstate highways and two major rail lines. The third supplier, Sara Lee Corp., expanded its Rochelle presence for the second time in 3 years last summer, adding 125,000 square feet of refrigeration space and 25 more jobs, Anderson said.

Anderson attributes the growth to long-term investment in the city's infrastructure and prudent leveraging of an established transportation system, which includes Global-III, the Union Pacific Railroad's largest rail-to-truck shipping yard.

A $6 million rail overpass on Steward Road is scheduled to be completed by late spring, offering truck drivers interstate access without rail crossings.

Jack Dame Road, a $5.5-million bypass connecting state Route 38, Global-III and Interstate 88, is scheduled to be complete by mid-summer.

Bay Valley Foods 
jobs to open in Dixon

Bay Valley Foods, which recently moved into the ProLogis industrial park in Rochelle, will take applications for labor production workers at its Dixon aseptic facility.

Applications will be available only from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Wednesday and Thursday at the Comfort Inn, 136 Plaza Drive, Dixon.