Ben & Jerry’s building is sold to Black River Produce

Springfield-based Black River Produce is expanding its operations after purchasing the former Ben and Jerry’s building in the North Springfield Industrial Park.
http://www.therepublic.com/view/story/259a22e003584ccd8cb2a3d13e7d4331/VT--Meat-Processing-Expansion/

Ben & Jerry’s building is sold to Black River
2012-03-20 / Front Page

New owners intend to process meat at plant
By IAN LORD
Staff Writer

SPRINGFIELD

Springfield-based Black River Produce is expanding its operations after purchasing the former Ben and Jerry’s building in the North Springfield Industrial Park.

BRP bought the vacant building from the town of Springfield for $125,000, according to Town Manager Bob Forguites. After fixing the dilapidated structure and making major improvements, BRP will use the building as a meat processing facility, according to a company statement.

Demand for locally-produced meat has increase throughout the last few years, and BRP’s meat processing and shipping has been expanding, said Sean Buchanan, BRP’s business development manager, in an interview He said the scope of meat processing that BRP is preparing for required a separate facility, and the opportunity to purchase the Ben and Jerry’s building was too good to pass up.

“We needed to have a sep- arate facility geared toward our meat operations,” Buchanan said. “I think the biggest thing is that the local meat part of our business has grown over the last three or four years.”

Restaurants and small, local markets throughout Vermont have long demanded more local meat, Buchanan said, but now BRP is preparing for larger retail operations to be the next buyers of New England-raised proteins. With a facility dedicated to meat processing, he said BRP will be able to buy from more New England meat farms and provide a wider range of cuts to potential customers.

“There’s a larger market if we can get it out there,” Buchanan said. “Long term, it gives us the flexibility to buy throughout New England.”

Large grocery stores in New England like Hannaford’s and Shaw’s have already begun selling local produce, bread and cheeses, Buchanan said, and the logical next step is for those retailers to begin carrying local meat.

“You realize the next piece is going to be fresh meat,” he said.

Buchanan said BRP is closely watching the growing local meat industry in New England. As dairy producers struggle, he said more and more dairy farms are transitioning to becoming meat producers. Rather than shipping livestock out of state, Buchanan said local distributors like BRP realize there’s a viable market within New England.

Last week’s purchase of the old Ben and Jerry’s building has been a long time coming, said Steve Birge, BRP’s co-owner. He said BRP first looked at acquiring the space five years ago, but didn’t pull the trigger.

Throughout the past few years, Birge said BRP had been considering an expansion of their facility on Route 106 in North Springfield to accommodate their meat operations. With the Ben and Jerry’s building still up for sale, he said it made more sense to purchase the site rather than spend money on an addition.

“It came out that that was the better move,” Birge said. “It’s been in the works for years.”

Birge said BRP is getting right to work at fixing up the dilapidated building. He said lighting and electricity needs to be reinstalled throughout the building and new refrigeration units need to be moved in. Birge said BRP is hoping to have the facility up and running by the end of the summer.

While the $125,000 cost was a good price for BRP, Forguites said the town benefits by unloading a non-taxed property. The building had been owned by one other person since Ben and Jerry’s left the industrial park, and it’s since been through the tax-sale twice, Forguites said.

Although a few people have put offers on the building, nobody who approached the town had a solid plan for the site, Forguites said. He said having BRP buy the building and get right to work on it was an ideal situation.

“They’re willing to do it and we were just happy to have somebody rather than a speculator buy it,” Forguites said. “We’ve had several people that have looked at it, but nobody was really looking to put it in use right off the bat.”

Being owned by Springfield for the past few years, the old Ben and Jerry’s building was generating any tax revenue for the town. Forguites said being able to add it back onto the Grand List was an additional bonus.

“It’s a combination of getting it back on the Grand List and giving it to somebody willing to spend some money on it.”

When BRP’s meat processing facility is up and running, Buchanan said it will create eight jobs immediately. He said indirect jobs will be created in other sectors because of the new facility, but BRP is going to start off slow.

Although the BRP’s newest purchase won’t create a groundbreaking number of jobs, having a local business expand is always a good thing, said Bob Flint, executive director of the Springfield Regional Development Corporation. He said BRP’s expanding meat business combined with a vacant building being filled is something Springfield should be happy about.

“It’s exciting to see how the company continues to evolve and continues to diversify,” Flint said. “It’s great that a local company will be able to utilize that building.”

BRP’s purchase of the old Ben and Jerry’s building in the North Springfield Industrial Park coincides with the proposed North Springfield biomass project. Birge said that project didn’t have any bearing on BRP purchasing the facility, but the potential to hook up to the biomass plant’s thermal loop — which would create cheap heating and cooling for the industrial park’s businesses — is something he’ll look in to. Flint said he imagined the cost for operating refrigeration and freezing units in the space would benefit greatly from the costeffective thermal loop.

Birge said he views the biomass project as a positive thing for Springfield and predicted that more businesses will be attracted to the area, creating more jobs and benefiting local businesses and residents alike.

“We certainly view that as being positive to North Springfield,” Birge said. “Overall, we’re proponents of it.”

http://www.eagletimes.com/news/2012-03-20/Front_Page/Ben__Jerrys_building_is_sold_to_Black_River.html