Byrne Dairy Reveals Big Plans For Cortlandville Plant – Total Project Expected to Bring Over 280 New Jobs to Facility

During the Town of Cortlandville’s Planning Board meeting last night, representatives from Byrne Dairy revealed their plans for a major multi-phase expansion. Last night’s meeting was a sketch plan conference to gather input from the Planning Board and Byrne’s overall intentions. Byrne will still be required to channel the approval process prior to beginning the next phase of the project. The overall project would take between 5 to 6 years, according to Jim Gosier, General Counsel for Byrne Dairy, who spoke to the planning board.

Mr. Gosier says Byrne Hollow Farm originally completed phase 1 of the expansion project back in 2022 when the facility changed production to create extended shelf life milk products, which he noted was the best decision the company had made for the facility.

The next phase, phase 2 of the expansion of Byrne Hollow Farm off of Route 13 would be an additional 100,650 square foot addition of production space to accommodate additional blending, batching equipment, and filling lines on the western side of the current building. The total investment of the second phase would be nearly $34 million dollars and would create an additional 90 new jobs. Byrne says work would commence once all approvals have been given and would take about 6-months to complete from the start of construction.

Phase 2 would also include a new truck access road from Byrne Hollow Crossing, relocation of the truck scale, employee parking, and abandonment of Osbeck Circle by the town.

The start of Phase 3 will be determined by economic and business factors, but would be built within 12-months of construction start and will be attached to the north of the phase 2 expansion. Phase 3 would include another 82,600 square foot addition, upgrades to the existing water treatment facility and electrical service. This phase would add another 92 jobs with an anticipated cost of $44 million dollars, not including equipment.

The last and final phase, Phase 4, would create an additional 102 new jobs, bringing the total workforce at the facility to 394. Phase 4 would cost an estimated $42 million dollars and would consist of another 69,400 square foot expansion. Like phase 3, phase 4 would only begin construction depending on the business and economic climate.

Overall, the planning board was excited about the level of investment and growth the project would bring with board member Ann Hotchkin saying Cortlandville is lucky to have the facility.

Gosier also added with the significant amount of new jobs to fill, the company hasn’t had any challenges filing positions at Byrne Hollow Crossing and says the facility has one of the highest employment retention rates in the company.

Chief Operating Officer for Byrne Dairy, Dan Wood, was also in attendance and informed the board Byrne Dairy hopes to start construction come Spring after all approvals are given. Byrne Dairy plans to submit a formal application for the expansion most likely during the planning board meeting in February.

*Featured image via Byrne Dairy*