Genesee Valley Agri-Business Park

The Haskell Company, general contractor on Project Wave, and PepsiCo both pledged today to hire, whenever possible, local subcontractors, and say they've been following that practice from the beginning.

In fact, both companies say they have a non-binding agreement with the Genesee County Economic Development Center to hire local workers.

Union representatives from Rochester held a press conference today outside the building site at the Genesee Valley Agri-Business Park and insisted that Haskell is not awarding enough contracts to builders from Western New York.

Dave Young, president of the Rochester Building and Construction Trades Council, as well as business manager of IBEW Local 86, told reporters to just walk through the parking lot (if allowed) and check license plates on the trucks pulled up behind the construction trailers.

"Pepsi has hired an out-of-state general contractor who is bringing up employees from Texas, Florida, North Carolina and Virginia," Young said. "They're bringing them from everywhere but right in here New York State."

Young made his remarks flanked by union members -- Young said he represents 15,000 workers, 15 percent of whom are out of work -- and in front of a backdrop of earth movers grading the construction site.

The earth movers are owned and operated by Zoladz Construction, based in Alden.

Young (pictured) said the one solid piece of evidence his group has is a video he and some colleagues produced yesterday during their walk-through of the construction site parking lot.

When pressed to name out-of-state contractors who have been awarded contracts, Young named one, an electrical contractor out of Kentucky, but said he couldn't remember the names of the others.

He said the bid process for construction work such as this lacks transparency, which makes it hard to know for sure who is being hired for what jobs.

Yesterday, Steve Hyde told The Batavian that 50 percent of the contracts for the project have been awarded and 80 percent of those have gone to Western New York contractors.

Dave Balz, a VP with Haskell, said he didn't have the information in front of him to be able to confirm Hyde's numbers, but said Haskell is firmly committed to hiring local labor on all of its projects.

"In my experience, every community is concerned about the local work force and the local workers," Balz said. "We respect that concern. Local contractors with a good safety record are always welcome to bid on our projects."

Haskell signed a non-binding agreement with GCEDC to hire qualified subcontractors from the local area (which covers Genesee County as well as the surrounding counties), Balz said.

According to Scott Gilmore, a spokesman for Pepsi, the company signed a "local labor pledge" with GCEDC.

"Our pledge is to use a fair and competitive selection process for the construction of the new manufacturing facility, with a view to using as many New York State and local subcontractors and suppliers as reasonable," Gilmore said in a statement.

"As with any pledge of this nature, it is not legally binding, but it is a reflection of the goals and standards we seek to maintain as we proceed with development of the state-of-the-art dairy and yogurt production facility in Batavia, New York."

Gilmore also wrote, "We are committed to providing a measurable, positive impact to the Upstate local community and surrounding areas through the use of available, competitive local labor as we construct a state-of-the-art dairy and yogurt production facility in Batavia, New York."

Among Young's request is that GCEDC create a local labor requirement in its contacts with businesses, saying that the Monroe County IDA has such a requirement in its contracts.

The Batavian spoke briefly with a spokeswoman for COMIDA who said at first the claim was true, but when asked if such agreements were binding, she said she would need to double check. We've not yet heard back from her.

As for the video presented by the union, Balz said he would let it speak for itself, adding, "We are still early in a very long-term project to build a state-of-the-art yogurt plant. As things proceed on site, we intend and will take action on our pledge to do our very best to include local participation."

Previously: Union officials making waves over alleged out-of-state hiring practices of Wave Holding

Two giant multinational companies received millions in taxpayer subsidies to launch "Project Wave" in Batavia on the promise of creating local jobs and stimulating the local economy, but so far, according to Dave Young, it's not happening.

Steve Hyde, CEO of the Genesee County Economic Development Center, disputed Young's claims saying that Wave Holding has made a committment to hire a majority of local construction workers and that as of last week, 50 percent of the contracts had been awarded with 80 percent going to local firms.

Young is a union man -- president of the Rochester Building and Construction Trades Council, as well as business manager of IBEW Local 86 -- and he will hold a press conference at 10 a.m., Friday, at the Genesee Valley Agri-Business Park to try to draw attention to the number of out-of-state workers being employed by Wave Holding, LLC.

"There are a lot of construction workers in our area who are out of work," Young said. "This isn't a union or non-union issue. It's a community issue."

Young and Anna Dumont, executive director, Rochester Building and Construction Trades Council, released a pair of videos Dumont said were shot this morning at the job site of Project Wave showing numerous out-of-state license plates on what they say are the cars of construction workers employed by building contractor Haskell and its subcontractors.

We received no reply to an email this afternoon to PepsiCo asking for comment on the situation.

Pepsi along with Germany-based Theo Muller Group formed Wave Holding to introduce a new Greek-style yogurt product to the United States and are spending more than $206 million to build a 363,000-square-foot facility.

The plant will initially employ nearly 200 people and could eventually employ as many as 600 people.

Wave Holding received more than $11 million in tax abatements for the project and the GCEDC has been able to channel millions more into building the ag park and ensuring the park has sufficient infrastructure to support operations there.

Young suggested GCEDC should adopt rules similar to those he claims are already in place in Monroe County -- if you get tax breaks for your project, you need to hire local workers.

"That's true of all IDA subsidized projects in Monroe County," Young said. "Some go union and some go non-union, but either way people in our community get to go to work every day. They earn paychecks that support their families. This is truly a community issue."

Hyde, who answered a couple of questions even though he's out of town on vacation, said the GCEDC supports local labor.

"We have done everything we can to encourage local labor and are a huge fan and advocate of local labor," Hyde said. "We have done so with Wave many times."

Young claimed the unemployment rate among construction workers in Western New York is about double the rate of the rest of the work force.

The problem with out-of-state workers (and Young thinks some of the workers at the site aren't even U.S. residents) is that they send their wages back home rather than spend the money here.

Studies, he said, put the multiplier effect of locally based construction work at three to seven times the worker's wages.

"They're paying taxes, going to local stores, getting things fixed locally, sending their kids to local schools and colleges," Young said.

Young said he hopes public attention on the matter will get Haskell to hire more local workers.

Meanwhile, throughout the construction of the Alpina yogurt plant, the parking lot -- including today -- has been consistently filled with vehicles with New York license plates.

Executives from PepsiCo and the Muller Group will be keynote speakers March 23 at the Genesee County Economic Development Center's annual meeting at the college.

The two companies are behind Project Wave, the $206 million yogurt plant being built at Genesee Valley Agri-Business Park.

Mark Koenig, director of engineering and technology at the PepsiCo Global Nutrition Group -- who was in town when grading started in November although Pepsi's involvement was still officially a secret -- will be joined for a keynote presentation by Hanno Lehmann, a senior project manager from the Mueller Group.

Wave Holding, LLC -- the official name of the joint venture -- is expected to employ nearly 200 people in the near term and perhaps as many as 600 people if the new line of Greek yogurt is as successful as Pepsi and Muller project.

The new joint venture is receiving more than $11 million in tax abatements to build the plant in Batavia, which was initially not even a top-tier choice in the site selection process.

Also speaking at the event will be Rep. Kathy Hochul, State Sen. Michael Ranzenhofer, Assemblyman Steve Hawley and County Legislature Chairwoman Mary Pat Hancock.

GCEDC CEO Steve Hyde will make a presentation on some of the agency's 2011 highlights.

The luncheon is from noon until 1:30 p.m., March 23, at Genesee Community College. Tickets are $15 or $20 at the door. For reservation and tickets in advance, call 343-4866.

PepsiCo and the Theo Muller Group -- partnering on Project Wave in Batavia -- will receive more than $11 million in tax relief for the planned yogurt plant in the Genesee Valley Agri-Business Park.

The incentive package was approved by the Genesee County Economic Development Center Board on Monday.

The PILOT on the project -- relief from taxes on the increased value of the assessment -- is 100 percent for the first six years and 50 percent in years seven through 10.

The total PILOT abatement is estimated at $5.6 million over 10 years.

The companies will also receive $5.4 million in sales tax abatement on materials and supplies for construction of the facility.

The project will add 186 new jobs to the local economy, and early planning for the plant projected as many as 600 jobs by 2033.

Wave Holding, LLC (the company formed by Pepsi and Muller for the project) will spend $206 million on construction of a 363,000-square-foot facility.

Construction on the project began in November.

The agreement calls for the first 186 jobs to be filled within three years of Wave Holding receiving a certificate of occupancy.

GCEDC competed with shovel-ready sites in Avon and Pennsylvania.

According to a GCEDC press release, for every $1 invested by Waving Holding the local economy will benefit by $14.47.

The governor's office is announcing today that PepsiCo along with a German dairy company, is building a Greek yogurt plant at the Genesee Valley Agri-Business Park.

The announcement confirms reports first published exclusively by The Batavian in November on the name of the company behind the once-secretive Project Wave.

The facility will employ 186 people in the first three years, according to Steve Hyde, CEO of the Genesee County Economic Development Center.

"This validates our strategy of building shovel-ready sites and validates that our community and our region are well positioned for companies to locate here," Hyde said. "For a Fortune 50 company to validate our strategy -- I'm tickled pink to have a company like that commit to come here."

The plant is a joint venture between PepsiCo and the Theo Muller Group.

GCEDC helped spearhead negotiations that involved Empire State Development  providing PepsiCo with a $5.7 million PILOT tax abatement over 10 years and relief from $5.4 million in sales tax on construction materials and office equipment.

Hyde said Project Wave is the biggest new manufacturing operation to come to Batavia since Sylvania opened its plant here in 1953.

The county is scheduled to receive a $7,200 grant to help fund training for potential food-processing workers, as part of the Finger Lakes Food Processing Cluster Initiative.

The grant will likely assist Genesee Community College in developing food-training classes, said Scott Gage, director of the Job Development Center, and comes at a good time, with companies like Alpina opening factories in Batavia, along with existing businesses such as Yancey's Fancy in Corfu.

"Workers need to learn manufacturing techniques, process control, and health and safety issues," Gage said. "We’re seeing this as a tool to help us with these new businesses moving into the town."

Steve Hyde, CEO of the Genesee County Economic Development Center, said there is an effort going forward from government agencies, schools and food-processing companies themselves to create a better trained work force for these types of businesses.

He said developing such tech-based job-training programs (and food processing is now a tech-based job) is hugely important for the region.

"We are better aligning education with industry needs," Hyde said. "If you really start being able to deliver (a better trained work force), boy, you are at a key strategic advantage (for attracting new businesses to the area)."

We've heard for some time that while PepsiCo is paying for grading for a possible construction of a food processing plant in Batavia, the same work is "being done in three other locations."

One of those locations is in Avon, and as WHAM13's Sean Carroll discovered yesterday, no site work is taking place in Avon at all.

At the same time, however, the economic development directer in Livingston County says the site is much closer to being "shovel ready" than the Genesee Valley Agri-Business Park. His park, he said, doesn't need a USDA grant for sewer and water because it already has all the infrastructure in place.

"If they chose this site, and we made it very clear, literally they could plug in and all the utilities are in the ground and there's no infrastructure needed here or at the sewage treatment plant," Rountree explained

While Genesee County clearly has the lead in the race to land the project, Livingstone County isn't giving up.

The support of a U.S. Senator and the fact that dirt is actually being moved at the Batavia site appears to indicate Project Wave’s final destination may only be a formality at this point in the process. Yet Rountree and his team are staying optimistic after an aggressive pitch that included top representatives from Barilla.

Either way, regional dairy farmers will be pleased with either outcome.

"I think for the dairy industry in this area specifically it spells a good feeling about long-term stability," Coyne explained. "To have end-product manufacturing this close, it just adds to the confidence that we can invest in our own farms long-term and be able to be in business."

The other two supposedly competitive sites are in Pennsylvania. A contractor familiar with the project told me some time ago that those sites are graded and have infrastructure in place, but we currently have no way to confirm that assertion.

Press release:

Today, Senator Charles E. Schumer called on the U.S. Department of Agriculture to provide several hundred thousand dollars in federal funds for sewer and water infrastructure work to prepare a Genesee County site to host a massive food processing plant.

Build out of the new plant will occur in two phases and could bring hundreds of jobs to Genesee County over the next several years. The Genesee County Economic Development Center is currently preparing a site to host a 363,000-square-foot manufacturing facility, capable of hosting 300 to 400 jobs just three years after it is completed.

The GCEDC is currently finalizing a contract with a food producer for the site, and is seeking federal funding to cover part of the costs of infrastructure improvements to ensure that the site is compatible with the needs of the food company. Today, Schumer called on Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack to provide $300,000 to $500,000 in USDA funds for several projects that will ensure the site is ready to serve as a major job creator in Western New York.

“This massive plant could be a game-changer for Genesee County and Western New York,” Schumer said. “We can’t let inadequate sewer systems and wastewater lines, stand in the way of jobs. The USDA should realize the massive potential this project has and provide the seed funding that will help grow jobs and economic prosperity in the county.

"The funds are there to spur development and USDA would be hard-pressed to find a better return on their investment than this new plant. Secretary Vilsack should do the right thing and help us make these infrastructure improvements as quickly as possible to ensure that we don’t miss out on a chance to bring hundreds of good-paying jobs to Upstate New York.”

To ensure the site is ready to host the manufacturing plant, GCEDC must complete $1.8 million in infrastructure upgrades to the site. These upgrades include the construction of a second access road into the park, the addition of a new turning lane and road re-striping at the site’s main entrance as well as up to $500,000 for wastewater and sewer pump station upgrades. The GCEDC is seeking $300,000 to $500,000 in USDA rural development funds to complete these upgrades.

With Schumer’s encouragement and support, GCEDC plans to apply for funding through the USDA Rural Business Enterprise Grant Program. The application is due to USDA in April and funding would be awarded in June. Schumer noted that in 2010, Genesee County applied for and won over $200,000 under this program to build out sewer infrastructure to land the Alpina Yogurt Plant, which will serve as another major job creator for the county.

Schumer is pushing the USDA to help Genesee County build on this success by providing funding that will help the county ensure that the site is prepared to host a major food manufacturer in the months ahead.

In his letter, Schumer wrote, “Simply stated, securing USDA funding to complete these new upgrades will bring this $247 million project and its associated 300 jobs to Batavia, NY. As such, and with my full support and encouragement, GCEDC is submitting an application for Rural Development funding by the April 2012 application deadline.

“Funding this upgrade will create an enormous return on investment. Already New York’s rural and agricultural regions are quickly becoming centers of tremendous job growth due to the rise in yogurt and other food processing. This new food processor will join the ranks of the 900-employee Chobani Greek Yogurt manufacturing facility in New Berlin, NY, the 240-employee Fage plant in Jamestown, NY, and the 50-employee Alpina yogurt facility in Batavia, NY.”

CLARIFICATION: Rachael J. Tabelski, with GCEDC, said the USDA grant is intended to fund sewer improvements. Needed upgrades at the site include a secondary roadway and aquifer water.

Previously:

• Likely buyer for 'Project Wave' plant is PepsiCo
• Expert: Batavia poised to become yogurt capital of Northeast

Top executives from Alpina Products were in Batavia on Monday touring the site of their future Greek yogurt plant in the Genesee Agri-Business Park, and they heard from Jim Billington, project manager, that construction is right on schedule.

A mild winter has certainly helped, Billington said.

"We've been pouring concrete every day, and according to some of the locals, that's quite unusual," Billington said. "We've been trying to take advantage of that."

CEO Julian Jaramillo (top photo, left) was all smiles during the tour and nodded enthusiastically when Managing Director Carlos Ramirez (top photo, right) said they consider it a good sign that Project Wave is under construction (The Batavian has previously reported Project Wave appears to be the work of PepsiCo).

"It says we made a good decision in coming here," Ramirez said.

He added that with the milk supply, the transportation, the labor pool and now the chance to be in a location with a complimentary business will only benefit Alpina and could lead other yogurt makers to come to the same conclusion.

"I think developing a yogurt cluster is a really good idea – the Silicon Valley of yogurt," Ramirez said.

With Jaramillo and Ramierz was Alpina' Colombia General Manager Ivan Lopez, who was seeing the location for the first time.

"It’s going to be great," Lopez said. "We have a huge operation in Colombia and when I see this, we can see the future in United States. I think we can do good things here, just like in Colombia."

The 40,000-square-foot plant should open in early spring and initially employ 50 people, with the first shipment of product going out in June.

Ramirez said Alpina remains excited about the opportunity to sell Greek yogurt in the United States.

"It’s one of the few categories where America is an emerging marketing," Ramirez said. "It's grown like crazy over the past three or four years and we think there is still room to grow."

For previous Alpina coverage, click here.

The possible "yogurt cluster" in Batavia is part of a statewide trend in the manufacture and distribution of Greek yogurt, according to a story just published by the The New York Times.

Alpina Foods, the United States arm of a major South American dairy company, is building a $20 million plant in Batavia to make Greek yogurt topped with granola. And state economic development officials are negotiating with another major food maker to set up a dairy products plant in the same area, creating the possibility for what one executive called a “yogurt cluster.”

Of course, readers of The Batavian (and no other local source in this case) know the "major food maker" is PepsiCo.

However, I spoke to some dairy product insiders recently who don't believe yogurt is what PepsiCo is planning. They said they expect Pepsi to announce a dairy-based nutrition drink.

More from the Times:

National retail sales of the thicker style of yogurt more than doubled last year, jumping to $821 million for a 52-week period ending in October ...

New York’s dairy farmers are among the biggest beneficiaries of the public’s love affair with Greek yogurt, since it typically takes three times as much milk to make a pound of Greek yogurt as it does for regular yogurt. “This is a ‘once every two or three generations’ situation,” said Bruce Krupke, executive vice president of the Northeast Dairy Foods Association. “All of the right forces have come together to make it very attractive to build in New York state.”

Data compiled by the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets shows that the state produced 368 million pounds of yogurt in 2010, nearly 40 percent more than the previous year. Over five years, production rose almost 60 percent. Much of that increase is for Greek yogurt production. ...

The Greek yogurt boom has translated into jobs in rural areas of New York that badly need them. Chobani (a brand of Greek yogurt) said it currently employed about 900 people in New York and expected to add about 100 more. Fage said it had about 240 full-time employees and expected to add about 150. The new Alpina plant in Batavia will employ about 50 people.

We're still in a wait-and-see mode about Pepsi and how the rest of the ag park will fill out, but this was some interesting information from the NYT.

Read the whole article here.

The Town of Batavia is set to award a $300,000 grant to Genesee Economic Development Center for further infrastructure development at the Genesee Valley Agri-Business Park.

The town board approved a resolution in a special meeting Wednesday night setting a public hearing for 7 p.m., Dec. 21, which is a precursor to formerly approving the grant.

The funds will be used to construct a water line for the park. 

Part of the funds, $100,000, were granted to GCEDC in January 2010 for construction of electric transmission lines, but those funds have not be spent, so GCEDC requested that the $100,000 be combined with another $200,000 for the water line project.

"Without infrastructure, we cannot continue to attract business to that park," Supervisor Greg Post said. "It gets us and our partners in a much better position for that construction. I don't think anybody anticipated how quickly this project (Project Wave, or the possible PepsiCo yogurt plant) has moved forward. I am happy to be in this position to utilize money like this."

With the planned yogurt plants for Alpina and PepsiCo in Batavia, there's nothing but opportunity ahead for regional dairy farmers, according to Kim Pickard-Dudley, general manager of the membership division of Upstate Niagara Cooperative.

More yogurt means more milk and farmers are ready to meet the demand, Pickard-Dudley said.

"We're obviously excited for this opportunity for farmers," Pickard-Dudley said.

Upstate built its own yogurt plant in West Seneca in 2006 and a year ago purchased a 100-year-old plant in Watertown.

Alpina and PepsiCo have both broken ground on sites in the Genesee Valley Agri-Business Park, though PepsiCo has yet to reach a purchase agreement with the GCEDC (negotiations are, we hear, currently going on at the Albany level) for the 81-acre parcel. 

Regional farmers will be able to adjust capacity to meet all the demand for milk to make yogurt, Pickard-Dudley said.

Whether that milk comes through Upstate or yogurt manufacturers go directly to farmers is unknown at this time, Pickard-Dudley.

"Farmers are always up for a challenge for meeting new demands on supply," Pickard-Dudley said.

Pickard-Dudley was in Batavia at the O-AT-KA offices on Monday to meet with Rep. Kathy Hochul, who discussed with Upstate representatives her bill to create a guest worker program to assist New York's agricultural industry.

Project Wave -- which we now know is being pursued by PepsiCo -- will be the largest yogurt plant in North America, according to an industry expert with more than 15 years in the field.

Jeff Stephen, a consultant with Productive Partners, said in an interview today that what Pepsi is planning is impressive and will be a huge benefit to the community and the local dairy industry.

"Pepsi isn't the kind of company that is going to go anywhere," Stephen said. "They're not going to cut back because of any shortage of money. This is everything you could ask for in a local community. They are going to be successful. Not everything will go to plan, but they will succeed. This is a major global commitment."

Based on industry reports, Pepsi wants to get into the yogurt business. The multinational firm is planning a merger of sorts with Theo Muller Group, a German company that makes seven different yogurt products.

Stephen said companies for years have been trying to crack the U.S. yogurt market in the belief that American consumers don't buy as much yogurt as they should. Europeans consume five or six times as much yogurt as Americans, Stephen said.

The key to the U.S. yogurt market, Stephen said, is to make yogurt with more body and texture, a yogurt that can be consumed as a meal or a key ingredient in a meal. Growth in the U.S. yogurt market has been thwarted, Stephen said, because too much of the product available in the U.S. is what Stephen called "crappy dessert yogurt."

The key to the U.S. market is Greek yogurt, which has more flavor, is more filling and has greater nutritional value.

That's the kind of yogurt that will be the basis of Alpina's product line. Alpina was the first big signing for Genesee County Economic Development Center in the new ag park. Alpina is building an initially 10,000-square-foot facility that will employ 50 people.

Pepsi's plans begin with a 300,000-square-foot facility that will employ 180 people, with a build out by 2033 of 16 production lines and 600 employees.

There is no yogurt plant in North America that's close to that size, Stephen said.

When Stephen saw what was being planned for Project Wave, as first reported on The Batavian, he figured Pepsi, whose plans with Theo Muller had already been reported by the Wall Street Journal, was a likely prospect for the property. A project of that size would almost certainly be a plant for a large corporation moving into a new product line. 

The deal bringing Pepsi to Batavia hasn't been signed yet, but construction has begun on the facility and Pepsi is clearly eager to get its new product to market by 2013.

Stephen just hopes Pepsi is planning a yogurt line based on Greek yogurt and not "crappy dessert yogurt," which he doesn't think will help Pepsi or other yogurt makers expand the U.S. market.

Whatever Pepsi does, he doesn't see the Pepsi products competing directly with Alpina, which will be producing a slightly higher end yogurt and going after niche markets.

Pepsi's main competitors will be Dannon and Yoplait.

Dannon, based in White Planes, is a pure dairy company and between its two main brands, controls about 38 percent of the yogurt market. Yoplait, owned by General Mills, has another 6 percent. The rest of the market is shared by regional players and store brands, some of which, Stephen said, are very good.

Another potential local player in the yogurt market is O-AT-KA Milk Products, which is owned by Upstate Niagara Cooperative. 

The rumor is that a current expansion at O-AT-KA is for the local plant to start making yogurt ingredients.

It's unknown who the ingredients will be sold to, but Upstate purchased a 100-year-old, one-line yogurt plant in Watertown about a year ago.

Charitably, Stephen said, the Watertown plant is "historic," but it shows Upstate's intention to move into the yogurt business.

Whatever product Pepsi brings to market, Stephen said, will be thoroughly researched and well marketed.

"I have very high respect for Pepsi," Stephen said. "They are efficient in manufacturing and production and very good marketers. They are not the kind of company that gives up."

It's unknown whether Pepsi will purchase its dairy products through O-AT-KA or directly from farmers (those are discussions that probably haven't even taken place yet, Stephen said), but as for farmers, Stephen said they will be happy working with Pepsi.

Pepsi, he said, takes an approach that being easy to work with helps lower costs.

"I think the farmers will want to do business with them," he said.

As for milk supply, the market will probably be shaken up for awhile initially, but the big farmers have little trouble adding capacity (more cows) and there should be an ample milk supply in Western New York to meet the needs of Pepsi, Alpina and O-AT-KA, and any other players that enter the market at the ag park.

Perhaps the worst news for other dairy businesses, Stephen said, is that if Pepsi wants to hire an employee, they will hire that employee. They will spend what it takes, he said, to get the best employees, especially in key positions.

But it's a great pool of employees that is attracting Pepsi to Batavia, Stephen said.

For years, he's been telling dairy companies to stop manufacturing in places like Los Angeles, New York and Philadelphia because the standard of living is so much better in smaller communities.

Employees can actually afford to buy a house in a place like Batavia. That isn't true in larger population centers. And, Stephen said, the schools are good, and that's attractive to a major employer.

"You have a pretty high quality of life," Stephen said. "It's a pretty attractive place to put people who are going to work for you for a long time."

I went out to the Genesee Valley Agri-Business Park this morning to meet WHAM13's Sean Carroll and the amount of progress that has been made by construction crews since Tuesday was noticeable.

It was impressive seeing more than a half-dozen pieces of heavy machinery moving around the 81-acre parcel at breakneck speed. There is a clear sense of urgency to complete phase one of construction before the worst of winter sets in.

And seeing the sewer lines being installed felt like another piece of the puzzle falling into place. The Cedar Street sewer line connecting Main Street and the ag park was only finished last week.

PepsiCo started construction as soon as the sewer line project was complete, even though not too many major construction projects in WNY begin in the middle of November. Somebody is pretty serious about being ready to begin physical plant construction in the spring.

Carroll's report tonight on Rochester's Channel 13 will be not just about Project Wave, but the scope of the uptick in activity at the ag park and what it means for Genesee County.

A pair of top executives from the company behind a development in the Genesee Valley Agri-Business Park in Batavia were on hand this morning to see the first of several tons of dirt get moved from one spot to another.

Even without a purchase agreement to buy the 81-acre parcel from GCEDC, the company is apparently eager to get this project under way immediately to meet a deadline for product production of early 2013.

The company wants site grading completed before the worst of winter hits.

While the executives did not want to be identified in publication, sources in the dairy industry have fingered PepsiCo as the company likely behind "Project Wave."

It makes sense.

According to a story in the Oct. 14 edition of the Wall Street Journal, Pepsi is embarking on a partnership with a yogurt company based in Germany in an effort to enter the fast-growing yogurt market in the United States.

This would be Pepsi's first foray into the U.S. dairy business, but fits an overall strategy laid out in the business press for Pepsi to grow market share in nutritional foods as the market for soft drinks declines.

The Jacksonville, Fla.-based firm that has led Project Wave through the regulatory process and start of construction is Haskell Architects and Engineers. On its website, Haskell lists PepsiCo as among its clients.

While the executives at the construction site this morning asked that their names not be published, an internet search of one of the executive's names confirmed he is an employee of PepsiCo.

The executive made it clear, however, that Batavia is only one site among four under consideration and his employer hasn't made a final decision on which site it will construct its plant.

It is, however, the site that is being bulldozed. And the company seems eager, and has big plans, to enter the U.S. yogurt market by 2013.

According to Project Wave specs, the plant will eventually employ 600 people working three different shifts on 16 production lines.

Assuming it opens on schedule in 2013, the plant will initially employ 180 people working on three production lines.

Both executives praised GCEDC and the Town of Batavia for having this shovel ready site available.

"There are only three of our four sites in the northeast that would be ready this quickly for production," one executive said. "These shovel-ready projects are key to attracting big companies."

Mike Wheeler, the project's architect, was also on site this morning and reiterated the importance of having all of the regulatory approvals in place, along with the infrastructure necessary for the project to get started right away.

"My hats off to these guys," Wheeler said. "They put the community in the best possible position for this project."

When an as-yet-unnamed company breaks ground on a development project Wednesday morning, it could mean as many as 600 new jobs in Batavia some day, and it will mark the end of a 15-day sprint to get the project pushed through the local and state regulatory process.

At the end of Tuesday's Town of Batavia Planning Board meeting, where a site plan and a change in the parcel map were approved, Chris Souzzi, VP of business development for GCEDC, said the swiftness of the approval process proves why shovel-ready business parks are so important.

"We can see now why we need these parks," Souzzi said. "Here we have a company that wants to build this fast, and in 15 days, you (the planning board) just approved a site plan. That's huge and that's why they're here."

Michael Wheeler, representing "Project Wave," as the secretive food-processing development is known, said the fact that the nine-month-long environmental review process had already been completed for the Genesee Valley Agri-Business Park, plus the review was a spot-on match for the kind of site contemplated in Project Wave, were huge factors in the client picking Batavia.

That said, not much is in writing yet.

The company has yet to close escrow on the 81-acre parcel and land in Avon and two already graded parcels in Pennsylvania are still, at least marginally, in the running for the big plant.

And the plant is big. In phase one, it will exceed 300,000 square feet, and if built out fully will have a 120-foot high cold storage tower (modeled after a similar automated storage tower owned by Wegmans near the airport in Rochester).

On day one, if it opens on schedule in January or February of 2013, the facility will employ 180 people and operate three production lines. At full build-out, the plant will employ 600 people on 16 production lines, all working in three daily shifts.

Grading and foundation preparation work begins at Wednesday morning and the unnamed company wants to see work completed by the end of December, according to Wheeler.

"At that point, it just gets so miserably cold up here that us Southerners can’t work any more," said Wheeler, who lives in Florida.

The company isn't scheduled to take possession of the property until the fall of 2012, when it will start moving in its production equipment.

UPDATED to add a picture I forgot to post last night of Mike Wheeler, left, and Paul Marchese.

Construction on a food and beverage processing plant at the Genesee Valley Agri-Business Park, which could some day employ as many at 600 people, might begin in 10 days.

The company planning the facility is pushing hard to get all of the permitting done to enable groundbreaking by Nov. 17.

The project -- known as Project Wave -- would initially employ 180 people.

Confidentiality agreements prevent representatives of the Genesee County Economic Development Center from revealing the name of the company purchasing the 81-acre parcel in the park or what product will be produced there.

On Monday, the Town of Batavia Planning Board, conducted a public meeting to review the potential environmental impact of the facility. Because a full environment review was completed for the ag park already, the board needed only to look at the three issues that are out of variance with what previously passed review.

On Thursday, the project will go before the Genesee County Planning Board for review. It must also yet be approved by the town's Zoning Appeals Board.

Asked if a groundbreaking on Nov. 17 was realistic, given all of the regulatory hurdles yet to be cleared, Town Engineer Steve Mountain said he didn't anticipate a problem.

"With the work they've done, with the plans they've presented, yes," Mountain said. "These guys are good."

The firm handling the planning for the unnamed company is Haskell Architects and Engineers out of Jacksonville, Fla.

The big issue for review on Monday is the height of the facility.

A refrigerated warehouse will initially be 45-feet high, but by the time the plant is at capacity (by 2033), the height will be 120 feet.

Batavia's code limits building height to 40 feet.

The facility also will include, at capacity: two tanks 77 feet high; two that are 65 feet high; and 16 that are 50 feet high.

The board found that even at these heights, the facility will have no significant visual impact on the surrounding area. The facility will still be barely visible from Route 5 or Route 63, and even the nearest residents (the Roland Circle and Haven Lane developments) won't have much of an obstructed view.

Parking is another issue that the board needed to review.

The facility will be operational at all times and employees will work in three shifts. There will be enough parking to accomodate rotation of each shift.

The town's code calls for parking spaces that are 10 x 20, but the code was intended primarily to ensure adequate parking in a retail environment.

Mountain said the requested spaces of 9 x 18 is adequate for this facility.

"By providing the smaller spaces on this project, it helps preserve some of the green space and it lowers the cost to the developer," Mountain said.

The other issue is the amount of water the facility plans to use, but Mountain said it wouldn't be a significant impact because the park was planned with more than enough capacity to meet the facility's needs.

After the meeting, Mountain cautioned that the project could still fall through.

"I've seen it happen before," Mountain said, noting that Haskell has completed all of the engineering on the site and, pending approvals, there's no reason construction can't begin on the anticipated Nov. 17 date.

Mark Masse, from GCEDC, said after the meeting that there's still no indication of when the project will be announced officially.  

Haskell's project plans show ground work being completed by Dec. 31, with final site plan review and building permits issued during the winter. Final site work and building construction would take place in the spring. Equipment installation would be completed by the fall and the plant would go into production next winter.

It would open with three production lines and grow to five production lines in the near future. The mid-term plan is 10 production lines, and the ultimate plan is 16 production lines.

Previously:

• Ag park about to land another big food processing plant
• Planning under way for food processing plant on 81 acres at agri-business park
• Lt. Gov. comments on possible 200+ job food processing plant in Batavia

A Canadian company is finally able to proceed with plans to build a mushroom farm at the Genesee Valley Agri-Business Park.

The company, known for the project as Genesee Valley Mushrooms, Inc., (GVM) was originally considered the first business to commit to the ag park back in 2008, but the deal stalled.

GVM will purchase 10 acres in the park and employ 100 people.

In the ag park, GVM will build a 70,000-square-foot growing facility. It's also planning a 37,000-square-foot facility for substrate, the material for growing mushrooms, off Wortendyke Road in Batavia. That substrate facility could use, among other material, the byproduct (manure) of Batavia Downs.

The company is expected to spend more $20 million on construction of the facilities.

Genesee County's Ways and Means Committee approved a grant application resolution to receive funding for the project from the state. The exact amount of the grant has not been determined.

The grant application needs to come from the county government.

Mark Masse, a VP with GCEDC, said the facility will be the first mushroom growing facility in the state. Grocery stores throughout New York will be able to market the mushrooms as locally grown.

With an unnamed business near closing on an 81-acre parcel, plus Marktec, the GVM project, and Alpina combined with Alpina's first-right-of-refusal on another 10 acres in the park, the 200-acre ag park is nearly half sold.

The park could fill up quickly, Masse said.

"We have more companies in the pipeline than available acreage at the park," Masse said.

WHAM-13's Sean Carroll is working on a follow-up to our stories on a possible giant food processing plant targeted for the Genesee Valley Agri-Business Park and had an opportunity to ask Lt. Gov. Robert Duffy about the plans today.

Here's the exchange:

Sean Carroll: "Genesee County Ag Park is one of a couple locations in this region being eyed-up by possibly a food processing company, 200 to 300 jobs, what do you know about it and what can you tell us about it?”

Duffy: “Well, I know one thing, on one of the worst weather days of the year I was out at a meeting in Genesee County on that location. I know the state is working very hard with Genesee County right now. I don't want to negotiate or talk about the details of that discussion right now but we're working very, very hard on that and hopefully it will come to fruition."

Carroll has spoken with state-level officials who confirmed the details of what we've been able to report so far.

Town of Batavia officials are going to work as quickly as possible to get development plans reviewed and approved for a food processing facility on an 81-acre parcel at the Genesee Valley Agri-Business Park.

Sources tell The Batavian that a company is planning a large facility that could employee from 200 to 300 people. But when asked for confirmation on details Tuesday night, GCEDC CEO Steve Hyde said confidentiality agreements prevent him from discussing both the name of the company and the nature of the processing plant.

While Hyde cautioned that the deal is "not 100 percent," it's clear from the discussion of planning board and zoning board members Tuesday night that the company is serious about building its new plant in Batavia.

"This project is going to move very fast," said Gary Diegelman, chairman of the zoning board.

It must, Hyde said.

"They want to move very fast," Hyde said. "There is some extended time frame for negotiations, but they want to get moving in advance to take advantage of the good weather before it gets nasty."

The zoning board will meet Nov. 7 to discuss three requested variances to the zoning code.

The company is requesting permission to build a warehouse higher than the 40 feet allowed by the zoning code, Diegelman said. The initial request is to build a 45-foot-high warehouse, but the company anticipates eventually expanding to 120 feet high.

Diegelman suggested the board just consider approving the 120-foot high variance now to save the company the trouble of coming back later for a new variance.

Because of the Monroe County water towers on the other side of Route 5, and variance already granted for the O-AT-KA Milk Products plant, the variance shouldn't be a problem, Diegelman indicated.

The company also wants to provide parking based on three shifts of workers, rather than a number of parking spaces dictated by the total square feet of the facility.

And they want parking spaces that are 9' x 18' rather than the code of 10' x 20', but the variance request is not unusual in the town.

As for the planning board, it will hold a meeting to discuss any changes in the SEQR process. The ag park already has been through environmental review, but the 81-acre project could have additional or different environmental impacts that need to be considered.

On Nov. 14, the board will discuss a proposal to change parcel boundaries in the park to create the 81-acre project.

Hyde indicated that while the project isn't completely locked down, Genesee County is the frontrunner, well ahead of sites considered in Pennsylvania and even Livingston County.

"I think there’s a lot of excitement (about the project), not just in Genesee County, but across the region and the state. People recognize that the Finger Lakes and Western New York are primed for growth in food processing, a recession-proof industry, because people have to eat and our country continues to grow."

Photo: GCEDC's Mark Masse, VP of business development, shows site map plans for parcel changes to the agri-business park to members of the planning and zoning boards.