NEWCOLD Selects Lebanon Indiana
November 15, 2020
The veil of secrecy has been lifted on a commercial investment in the State, a venture formerly known as Project Aisle. NewCold a Netherlands based cold chain logistics company recently announced they were expanding their customer partnership with Conagra Brands by building a new state of the art facility in the Lebanon Business Park.
The new facility is approximately half the size of the mammoth Lucas Oil stadium, home of the Indianapolis Colts. At 141 feet high (43 meters), the facility holds over 100,000 pallet positions. The Lebanon Indiana facility will be NewCold’s third facility in the U.S., including an existing presence in Tacoma, Wash., and Burley, Idaho.
The Indiana Economic Development Corporation offered NewCold up to $2.828 million in conditional tax credits based on its job creation. The company can claim the performance-based tax credits based on the terms set forth in the economic development agreement.
NewCold will begin hiring immediately for project developers and will fill positions in warehouse management and operations, business development and administration starting in Q3 2021. The US$150 million facility is projected to create 150-200 new jobs. Interested applicants may view open positions and apply at newcold.com/careers.
A historical perspective:
On August 27th, the Town of Brownsburg announced they lost their bid as the location for Project Aisle. The article detailing Brownsburg’s loss of Project Aisle is found >> HERE <<.
How Did Project Aisle Fail in Brownsburg ?
The legal reason for the failure of Project Aisle, is the applicant failed to answer one of three mandatory questions asked by the Board of Zoning Appeals to all applicant’s. As a result, their request for a height variance was denied.
At the August 10th, 2020 Advisory Board of Zoning Appeals (BZA) – Regular Meeting one item on the agenda was the 160 ft height variance from applicant. Nearly 80+ people attended filled town hall, the overflow tech room and hallway. All of whom testified they were against the project. Three questions are by Brownsburg ordinance required to be answered. The applicant failed to answer:
Multiple members of the BZA committee asked “Could there be a reduction in adjacent property values?” — The applicant was unable to provide any answer with supporting evidence. The vote on the variance request failed unanimously, statute allowed no other result.
Reference:
Advisory Board of Zoning Appeals – Regular Meeting
http://brownsburgin.swagit.com/play/
BZDV-06-20-1834 PROJECT AISLE MAXIMUM STRUCTURE HEIGHT
NO Community Outreach by The Town of Brownsburg Public Servants
In addition, there was significant resistance by Brownsburg and County area residents. Greater than 2000+ people shared a myriad of concerns about “Project Aisle”, with any member of town governance who would listen. A list of concerns concerns is found on their website here: https://stopprojectaisle.com/. Even with strict COVID restrictions in place, more than 80+ people attended each meeting where this item was on the agenda.
The absence of transparency and community outreach by the Town of Brownsburg, particularly after portions of the non-disclosure agreement (NDA) were lifted, meant the project faced growing suspicion, formidable and growing opposition had the project received it’s zoning variance.
Why was Project Aisle Important to Brownsburg?
- The Town of Brownsburg had the opportunity to add potentially $4 million annually to its tax rolls and more than 150 well-paying jobs through Project Aisle. $4 million dollars in taxes represents approximately 10% of the town’s budget.
- Employees would be considered high-skilled workers, who generally make 60% more than the county average salary.
Press release provided by NewCold
November 13, 2020
State-of-the-art facility brings significant investment to Lebanon, Indianapolis
Chicago, Illinois—Friday, November 13, 2020—Pioneering Netherlands-based cold chain logistics company, NewCold, is pleased to announce that it is investing in a new, state-of-the art facility and expanding its existing customer partnership with Conagra Brands, one of North America’s leading branded food companies.
NewCold will build and operate an advanced, large-scale automated cold store facility which will be the biggest in Indiana and one of the largest in the United States. It is approximately half the size of the mammoth Lucas Oil stadium, home of the Indianapolis Colts. At 141 feet high (43 meters), the facility holds over 100,000 pallet positions.
Lebanon, Ind., facility will be NewCold’s third facility in the U.S., including an existing presence in Tacoma, Wash., and Burley, Idaho. Scheduled to be operational in 2022, the US$150 million facility is expected to create 150-200 new jobs.
Bram Hage, Founder and CEO of NewCold said: “It is very pleasing to see our continued growth in North America as we seek to build a long-term strategic relationship with Conagra, built on mutual trust. Our robust global pipeline includes the delivery of at least six new capital projects, as we continue to develop multiple large-scale automated facilities across Europe, Australia and North America. This momentum confirms a very positive future for customers and an innovation boost for the industry.”
Craig Weiss, Sr. Vice President of Supply Chain and Chief Transformation Officer for Conagra Brands said: “At Conagra Brands, we’re modernizing our distribution network infrastructure as part of our overall supply chain strategy. We’re partnering with NewCold to develop a new, state-of-the-art distribution center that will support our growing frozen business so we can better meet the needs of our customers and consumers.”
Jonas Swarttouw, VP, Customer & Business Development for NewCold in North America, said: “Collaborating with respected partners like Conagra drives our success, as we share an ambition to transform the industry and reimagine the global food supply chain. As we continue to expand our North American presence, we support local communities in efforts to foster economic growth and create high-quality employment opportunities. The NewCold team at our Chicago Regional HQ will be leading the development, implementation and start-up of the operation, in close cooperation with our partners and stakeholders.”
The Indianapolis cold storage facility will use state-of-the-art technology including automated storage and retrieval systems (ASRS) to automatically move and store products in the ‘dark’ high-bay warehouse. To serve the high volume of case picking, an advanced automated case picking solution for detailed order fulfilment activities is part of the investment. The equipment and operators will be directed by NewCold’s proprietary advanced software systems, while products are kept in optimal conditions with all cold store areas cooled down to sub-zero temperatures. This advanced cold chain solution ensures that processes are sustainable, traceable, fully integrated with the processes of NewCold’s customers, and always at the very forefront of technological developments.
NewCold expects to begin site mobilization and construction activities in the coming weeks.
Press Release Provided by NewCold
Click on the logo above to go to their corporate website
About NewCold
NewCold is a rapidly growing global company specializing in temperature-controlled warehousing and distribution. Its world-class systems, energy efficiency and productivity stand above conventional cold storage solutions. NewCold is partnering with some of the largest food companies in the world to drive innovations in the cold storage industry. With its extensive in-house expertise in executing the entire project lifecycle, it is redefining the design, development and operation of automated cold storages.
NewCold, headquartered in the Netherlands, is developing and operating a network of advanced automated facilities across Europe (United Kingdom, France, Poland, Germany,Italy), Australia, and the United States. www.newcold.com
Media Contact:
Jonas Swarttouw (NewCold) – 312.813.5501 or jonas.swarttouw@newcold.com
Content by The Editor, Indiana Economic Development Corporation, and NEWCOLD Press Release
