New York, NY – March 23, 2022. NY-NE Dairy Consortium (“NY-NE”), a branded Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) company dedicated to supporting northeast organic dairy farmers, today announced a partnership with National Resources to secure financing for the first phase of a state-of-the-art dairy processing facility at National Resource’s i.Park 87. Located in Kingston NY, the park was formally operated by IBM as a 2.5 million square foot mainframe computer manufacturing facility. www.youtube.com/watch?v=un9xrhC15lc. Terms of the Partnership, which includes an equity investment by National Resources in NY-NE, were not disclosed.
Strategically located 90 miles from New York City and 200 miles from Boston, upon completion of Phase 1 of the project, the facility will include:
• Dairy processing and manufacturing capabilities.
• Spray drying capabilities.
• 30,000 sq. feet of refrigerated storage
• 30,000 sq. feet of frozen storage.
• 100,000 sq. feet of deep freezer capacity.
The estimated cost for the first phase of the project is $110 million with an estimated completion date of December 2023.
Once completed, NY-NE will produce and market a proprietary brand of organic fluid milk sourced from family dairy farms that recently had their supply agreements terminated by Danone’s Horizon Organic Dairy subsidiary and Maple Hill Farms. Other products to be produced at the plant will include conventional fluid and extended shelf life milk, bulk ice cream and ice cream novelties, dairy based nutritional beverages and spray-dried dairy ingredients. Once fully operational, it is anticipated that the facility will bring up to 300 permanent full-time jobs to Ulster county.
Farmers who contract with NY-NE can expect the following terms:
• Long-term, multi-year supply agreements.
• Fair and transparent pricing based on cost of production for the region using real-time cost data with adjustments for changes in the cost of inputs.
• Minimum price protection equal to a premium over the average farm gate price paid by other processors in the eastern New York/New England region.
• Legacy purchase commitments in the event the company is sold or ownership of the plant changes.
• Loyalty covenants to protect the farmer in the event NY-NE sells its proprietary brand of organic milk and gives priority to milk sourced in New York and New England.
• Participation in NY-NE’s profit sharing program which will set aside 10% of NY-NE’s annual profits across all organic dairy products determined yearly based upon the volume of milk each farm sells to the company.
Said Daniel Moran, Managing Director of NY-NE, “National Resources is the ideal partner for us in this project, not only because they are the industry leader in the redevelopment of legacy industrial sites, but because they share NY-NE’s total commitment to providing a transparent and stable milk market for New York and New England organic dairy farmers. Without an alternative outlet for their milk and a price that allows the farmer to operate profitably, many of these organic farms will have no choice but to sell their herds, altering forever the cultural fabric of rural upstate New York and New England.” Mr. Moran added “with National Resources as our partner, NY-NE is uniquely positioned to reset the organic dairy business model in a way that respects the needs and interests of the small family farmer without sacrificing the quality or profitability of our products.”
Said Joe Cotter, President of National Resources, “i.Park 87 presents an incredible opportunity to locate a first-class facility for processing dairy products in the heart of the milk pail of New York state and New England. We see broad-based support from every level of government, and this is our top priority for the site as it will fill a genuine need for our community.”
About NY-NE: NY-NE is dedicated to supporting the New York and New England organic dairy industry through a public/private partnership to redevelop a portion of the former IBM Kingston, NY manufacturing facility into a state-of-the-art dairy processing plant creating a guaranteed market for organic dairy farmers. Upon completion of the i.Park 87 Dairy Processing Plant, NY- NE will be a premier processor and distributor of organic fluid milk, ESL milk, cultured milk products, ice cream, dairy-based nutritional beverages, and powdered dairy ingredients.
For more information, please contact: Butler Associates - 212-685 4600, Sabrina Petrafesa - 646-213-1366, SPetrafesa@ButlerPR.com
In the early 1990’s, IBM closed a 2.5 million square foot mainframe computer manufacturing facility in Kingston, NY. The closure of the plant, which had been one of the largest employers in Ulster County, cost the region 13,000 jobs. Rebranded as TechCity, the complex stood underutilized and substantially vacant for the next 30 years. In December 2021, the Ulster County Economic Development Alliance (UCEDA) acquired the TechCity parcel. UCEDA subsequently sold the property to National Resources, a real estate company that specializes in redeveloping complicated former industrial sites. National Resources has rebranded TechCity as the I-87 Park. Most recently, National Resources redeveloped the IBM manufacturing site located in Fishkill, New York (now known as the I-84 park), which is fully occupied.
The site borders I-87 and is approximately an hour and a half from New York City, or 60 minutes to Albany. It has excellent access to markets throughout the Northeast, in proximity to the NYS Thruway, Stewart Airport, and with its own rail link and helipad. It has easy vehicular access from 9W, 9G, and Route 209, the site lends itself to any type of business. Located 500 feet above the flood plain, the property is ‘high, dry, and flat.’
