Jiffy Mix devises $4.4M plan to renovate book bindery into food storage

By this time next year, a new white building adorned in Jiffy Mix-blue detailing will join Chelsea Milling Company's campus. After standing vacant for a number of years, a former book bindery purchased by the baking mix company is now slated to receive $4.4 million in renovations to become a new, temperature controlled food storage facility. 

 

"The city owned the building since the early 2000s," says Vice President and General Manager of Chelsea Milling Company Jack Kennedy. "We bought it several years ago because we thought it would make a fine warehouse."

 

A Brownfield Redevelopment Plan will help to defray a portion of the redevelopment costs, as chemicals once used in the book binding process created environmental contamination of the site. Kenney estimates $375,000 of the $4.4 million project will be saved through the incentive. 

 

Initial work on the portions of the project not impacted by the Brownfield Plan have begun. Kennedy anticipates the 7,500 square foot warehouse will be complete by the beginning of 2014's busy season for Jiffy Mix, which begins in September. 

 

"The Brownfield portion of the project isn't a huge amount of money, but it makes us feel good that we'll be returning this to the tax rolls," says Kennedy. "By cleaning up the environmental issues, we're glad to be doing something for the community."

 

The new food storage facility will take over the role of off-site storage currently leased by Chelsea Milling Company. The consolidation of their food storage locations on-site will not only be more convenient for the company, but will also create three new jobs at the facility.