Project Frosty!

Wells Brothers is playing a role in "Project Frosty". The team is providing complete sitework for the industrial site in Warsaw, NC. This includes mass excavation, utility infrastructure and roadway infrastructure. The work is scheduled to be complete fall of 2016.

‘Project Frosty’ lures $21.6M warehouse expansion in eastern N.C.

Jun 27, 2016, 1:30pm EDT

The operator of a major cold storage warehouse and distribution facility for the pork, poultry and seafood industries in eastern North Carolina has announced a $21.6 million expansion plan at its plant in Duplin County.

United States Cold Storage Inc. will be expanding its refrigerated, cold storage facility in Warsaw, a project that will add 50 new jobs over the next five years, after striking an incentives deal with state and local government leaders. It is the second expansion of the company’s facility in Warsaw.

U.S. Cold Storage could qualify for up to $1.7 million in state and local incentives if it meets all job creation and investment performance goals. Gov. Pat McCrory’s office announced Monday that the company has been approved for a One North Carolina Fund grant worth up to $120,000, plus a building reuse grant from the state’s Rural Economic Development program worth $300,000. Duplin County supervisors and Warsaw Town Council approved additional incentive grants for the company worth about $650,000 each.

The economic development project, which was code-named “Project Frosty” among economic development consultants, had been in negotiations for at least three years. James Wolfe, executive director of the Duplin County Economic Development Commission says the company had also considered alternative investment sites in Georgia and other Southeastern states.

The expansion of the U.S. Cold Storage facility in Warsaw, about 70 miles southeast of Raleigh, will primarily serve the company’s food processing customers in eastern North Carolina. About 35 percent of the products handled at the Warsaw facility are destined for overseas markets, stated N.C. Commerce Secretary John Skvarla in a news release about the deal, "which helps connect North Carolina-produced foods to hungry consumers around the world.”

U.S. Cold Storage’s facility in Duplin County has been in operation since 1996 and is one of three it operates in North Carolina. It also has facilities in Lumberton and Marshville. Both the Warsaw and Lumberton facilities have access to CSX railroad service, which is tied into the North Carolina ports in Wilmington and Morehead City.

The new jobs planned in Warsaw will pay an average $30,000 for skilled maintenance technicians, warehouse workers and forklift operators.

The New Jersey-based company currently operates 36 facilities across 12 states, employing a total workforce of nearly 2,500, including 70 people in North Carolina. It is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the John Swire & Sons logistics firm based in London.

Amanda Hoyle

Staff Writer

Triangle Business Journal

http://www.bizjournals.com/triangle/news/2016/06/27/project-frosty-lures-21-6m-warehouse-expansion-in.html