Dietary supplement firm Eniva Corp. announced Wednesday that it has emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy after several cost-cutting moves.
The company outsourced 30 shipping and call center jobs to a local firm and moved its headquarters to Plymouth from Anoka.
"We have reset the foundation of our business for maximum efficiency and long-term viability. We literally left no stone unturned," said Eniva's CEO, Andy Baechler.
Eniva filed for bankruptcy protection last year, primarily to exit its lease in Anoka. The company became the anchor tenant in a 435,000-square-foot facility on a 26-acre development owned by real estate group Premier Anoka Partners. Baechler and his identical twin brother, Benjamin, were minor stakeholders in Premier Anoka Partners, and Eniva took up about 100,000 square feet of that building.
Eniva was assured that as more tenants moved into the building, its rent would go down. But no other tenants moved in, and it became too expensive to stay there, Andy Baechler said.
Commercial real estate brokers Marty Fisher and Rodney Lee, who were involved in the deal, did not return calls for comment. Premier Anoka Partners was to get an annual tax abatement from the city of Anoka, but because it didn't meet job creation goals, it never received the incentive.
As a result of Eniva exiting its lease, it will pay a $1.4 million rejection claim to landlords over the next three years, along with rent for the period it occupied the building during reorganization.
Eniva bought a 51,000-square-foot facility in Plymouth as new headquarters for its 67 employees. Baechler said the Anoka building has been sold to a new owner and that Federal Cartridge has moved into the space.
