Bill Engle, Palladium-Item
The former Really Cool Foods plant in Cambridge City has been purchased by Sugar Creek Packing. / Joshua Smith / Palladium-Item file
The construction process has begun for Sugar Creek Packing Co. and Wayne County officials said they expect work on the plant addition for the Ohio company to start this summer.
County director of development Steve Higinbotham told commissioners Wednesday that he has been in ongoing talks with company officials and expects the company to hold true to plans to begin construction by June at Gateway Industrial Park in western Wayne County.
Higinbotham said the project includes a proposed 170,000-square-foot addition to the company’s 77,000-square-foot plant, a $64 million local investment and the creation of 400 jobs. Higinbotham said Wayne County Soil & Water Conservation officials have approved the company’s erosion plan.
He said Sugar Creek officials have submitted construction plans to the state of Indiana.
“They have been told to expect about a 15-day turnover time,” Higinbotham said. “Once those plans have been approved by the state, they will be sent to us for our consideration. After that we can issue them a building permit. Then you’ll see them begin turning over dirt.”
Valerie Shaffer, CEO of the Economic Development Corporation of Wayne County, said the company’s 170,000-square-foot addition will include 148,000 square feet of production area, a 10-square-foot compressor room for refrigeration and a 12,000-square-foot pre-treatment plant.
“It’s a huge project and it’s going to happen here,” she said. “Sugar Creek is a family-owned company with a proven track record. Landing a company like this is the best possible outcome for the situation that happened at the Gateway Industrial Park.”
Sugar Creek purchased the former Really Cool Foods manufacturing plant in a bankruptcy sale in 2012. The food manufacturer focuses on protein, including pork and turkey bacon, bacon bits, meatballs, pizza toppings and chicken products.
Sugar Creek is based in Washington Court House, Ohio, and has five facilities in Ohio and Kansas.
Shaffer said the company plans to begin production in July 2014 but probably won’t hire the majority of its workers until after that. It plans to install five cooking lines by 2016.
Company officials have said the majority of its beginning employees will earn $13.60 per hour. With benefits that number becomes $16.79 per hour.
County attorney Ron Cross said company officials continue to work on the financial incentive package for the project with local leaders.