A former Motorola plant vacant since 2003 has been sold, Harvard, Illinois economic development and city officials said on April 26, 2016.
The 1.5 million-square-foot Harvard campus was purchased in an online auction for $9.3 million, said Harvard City Administrator David Nelson, adding that the minimum bid was $2.7 million.
Charles Eldredge, executive director of Harvard Economic Development Corp., said he was told by a representative with Chicago-based real estate broker Jones Lang LaSalle that the site had been sold to Chinese investors who plan to use the property as an incubator for Chinese and other foreign companies seeking a U.S. foothold.
When it opened in 1997, the $100 million cellphone plant promised to turn Harvard into a boom town.