The minimum bid for the plant will be $1.318 million, which is the facility's appraised value, said state Division of Agriculture asset manager Ray Nix.
The sale comes on the heels of the state's disposal of the Mat Maid processing plant in Anchorage. That plant, used for years to churn out milk, cream and other products, was sold in August for $1.5 million to Anchorage businessman Matt Bobich, who plans to turn it into heated storage units.
With the sale of the Anchorage facility, the Palmer plant, which was used to make plastic jugs and water bottles, is the last publicly visible vestige of the creamery. Mat Maid was started in 1936 in Palmer as a cooperative, and was taken over by the state in the mid-1980s after a private operator went bankrupt. Officials shut down the company last December because of mounting financial losses.
While the creamery's properties are being sold, the state has retained some Mat Maid memorabilia including an old ice-cream machine and the 30-foot long sign that hung on the building in Anchorage for years, Nix said. Those items may eventually be placed with state and local museum and historical societies, he said.
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