HERKIMER, N.Y. — There was a time when news that a manufacturer was closing shop and selling the building would have been devastating economic news. That was not the case when Weston Foods announced it will close its Frankfort plant, which employs 200, people in May. In fact, the bustling Herkimer County Industrial Development Agency […]
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HERKIMER, N.Y. — There was a time when news that a manufacturer was closing shop and selling the building would have been devastating economic news.
That was not the case when Weston Foods announced it will close its Frankfort plant, which employs 200, people in May.
In fact, the bustling Herkimer County Industrial Development Agency (IDA) fielded close to a dozen calls within the first week the building was listed for sale. Canadian parent company George Weston Ltd. decided to sell off the Weston Foods division in order to focus on its Choice Properties and Loblaw grocery divisions.
“We’ll offer them all the IDA benefits, whoever purchases it,” says John J. Piseck, Jr., CEO of the Herkimer County IDA. He is also confident those workers will find new jobs with a host of new projects that will add an estimated 500 new jobs to the region while relocating another 500 from other areas.
Several of those projects are happening at the IDA’s Schuyler Business Park, where two projects are nearing completion and three other lots are sold in the 188-acre site. Piseck couldn’t disclose the names of the incoming tenants, but says one is involved in high-tech manufacturing. Another is simply know as Project Orange Crush. The businesses are a mix of local businesses either expanding or relocating and companies from out of the area.
The Herkimer County IDA has been busy getting the park ready for new tenants with a new road and cul de sac completed and water lines going in over the next several months.
“We have gas and electric there now, fiber and water,” Piseck says. Each tenant has its own septic system.
The IDA hopes to round out development at that park, which has just over 30 acres of space left, by bringing in a convenience store and gas station, similar to the ADK Food and Fuel location at its Frankfort 5S South Business Park. It’s a model that has worked well, Piseck says. “They are bringing in sales tax to the county every month,” he says.
The 5S South park is full with its largest tenant, a Tractor Supply distribution center, employing 740 people. The company only promised to employ 235 people, Piseck notes.
“They really were the catalyst that helped develop our area,” he says of Tractor Supply, which opened the distribution center in 2019.
Just across the street, the Frankfort 5S North Business Park, is reaching the same status. Work is wrapping up there on renovations to the former Hale Manufacturing building, which will now be home to an Amazon “last mile” distribution center.
The 80,000-square-foot building will serve as a hub for deliveries within a one- to two-hour radius.
“They should start hiring in June,” Piseck says, adding that Amazon expects to employ more than 800 people once things are fully operational.
On top of adding those jobs, Amazon did not take a single IDA benefit for the project, he notes. The company will pay taxes on the full assessed value and did not receive any abatements or other assistance.
The Herkimer County IDA has more plans in the works.
“We’re looking for land,” Piseck says. The IDA needs the land, he notes, because he’s traveling around the state and even outside the state promoting the area to businesses.
Currently, the IDA has 85 projects in place, ranging from grants to new businesses coming into the area.
With an unemployment rate around 5 percent, the county is in a sweet spot for development because businesses know there are plenty of quality, employable people out there, Piseck says.