ROCKFORD — A former manufacturing site where redevelopment plans halted nearly a decade ago has been sold to a local entrepreneur who’s prepared to clean up the space and reactivate it with a mix of townhouses and businesses.
The 15-acre plot that once housed the Essex Wire factory at 2816 N. Main St. has been sold to Essex Main Holdings, a limited liability company run by local real estate broker Bobby Walsh. Walsh is also part of the duo that’s transforming the former Village Green site, which is about a block away, into a year-round market with a dining hall and produce grown in greenhouses.
Walsh’s LLC bought the property on March 17 from Paul Bennett’s A.W. Bennett Enterprise, which previously had its own plans for a mixed-used residential and commercial development on the property. A sale price was not disclosed. Public records containing the price have not yet been filed with the Winnebago County Clerk & Recorder’s Office…