Business & Tech

Local Homebuilder Keeps Business Under New Ownership

Pickell will stay on as CEO and president under new owner.

North Shore homebuilder Orren Pickell will remain in the home building business, according to an article in Chicago Real Estate Daily.com.

Pickell will continue as CEO and president of a new company bearing his name, Orren Pickell Building Group LLC. An investment group bought Pickell's business, which has a 37-year history in the area, for $350,000 on July 6 in an auction for creditors that was part of an out-of-court alternative to bankruptcy.

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Local private-equity executive William R. Voss of Lake Pacific Partners LLC led the group. Voss is quite familiar with Pickell, who built his Hinsdale home.

According to the article, the rest of the company's ownership group includes Carey Cooper, CEO of Danaco Solutions LLC, a Highland Park-based company that helps produce buyers manage their supply chain, and Thomas G. Wake, co-president of Eby-Brown Co., a Naperville-based distributor of products sold in convenience stores. Eby-Brown ranked seventh on the Crain's 2011 list of largest private companies, with $4.6 billion in sales, according to the article.

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Not much is expected under the new ownership. Even better, the company's 22 employees will keep their jobs

However, the new start is in quite contrast to where Pickell was. In 2005, Pickell employed 133, according to the article.

“I will never develop another piece of property as long as I live,” he said in the article. “I'm going to continue to be the choice of people who want to design and build their dreams.”

Pickell said he expects to have nine to 10 homes under construction soon along with several remodeling projects.

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