The Onondaga County Industrial Development Agency approved the tax break 5-0 for a 42,535-square-foot expansion that Byrne said will cost $24.1 million and add 20 jobs to the 185 at the facility on West Benedict Road.
The expansion will consist of 38,400 square feet of manufacturing, storage and cooling space, 2,970 square feet of processing space and 1,165 square feet of storage space. Byrne estimates construction will take 18 to 24 months.
The addition is the first of a two-phase expansion of the plant.
The second phase will cost approximately $70 million and consist of adding 70,000 square feet for manufacturing, construction of an enhanced wastewater treatment facility, the purchase of additional processing, filling and packaging equipment, and construction of an access road from Fly Road. It will also take 18 to 24 months to build.
Byrne has not said how many jobs the second phase will create.
Altogether, the expansions will more than double the size of the plant, which currently spans 100,000 square feet.
The tax break approved Tuesday only applies to the first phase. It consists of $512,000 in exemptions from sales taxes on construction materials and $397,464 in property tax discounts over 12 years. Byrne will have to apply separately for tax breaks for the second phase.
The family-owned company opened the plant in 2004 to produce dairy and non-dairy food products with long shelf lives.
An ultra-pasteurization process used at the plant produces milk, cream and non-dairy products with shelf lives from 70 to 180 days. Approximately 90 percent of the plant’s products are shipped out of New York for wholesale and retail sale.
Byrne said the first phase of the expansion will boost the plant’s output by up to 30 percent and the second phase will double it.