WhiteWave Foods intends to invest more than $2.3 million into its Westside manufacturing plant so it can boost production of the plant-based and cream products it makes there.
Denver-based WhiteWave wants to install a new pasteurizer at the facility, according to an application for Auld & White Constructors LLC to renovate the structure.
The Jacksonville-based construction company would renovate space at a project cost of $1.99 million at the plant, at 2198 W. Beaver St.
WhiteWave employs 100 people at the plant and plans to hire several more in the fourth quarter, spokeswoman Sara Loveday said.
Plans show interior renovations on the first and second floors. It includes removal of an existing processing system and addition of a new processor.
The factory, storage and business space now comprises 95,257 square feet. Plans show a small addition to boost that to 96,889 square feet.
WhiteWave also wants to install more equipment at a project cost of $317,300. T.V. John & Son Inc. is the contractor shown on the permit application.
Loveday did not provide details of the products produced, but WhiteWave’s brands include the Silk, So Delicious and Vega plant-based foods and beverages; International Delight and Land O Lakes coffee creamers and beverages; and Horizon Organic and Wallaby Organic premium dairy products.
It also owns other plant-based food and beverage brands sold in United States and European markets and through a joint venture in Asian markets.
The WhiteWave Foods Co.’s global headquarters is based in Denver. Its 2014 fiscal sales were $3.4 billion. Its 2015 results will be announced Feb. 11. It has 4,500 employees globally.
The Jacksonville plant is one of 12 WhiteWave production facilities worldwide and one of the 11 owned by WhiteWave.
The company was founded in 2004 and went public as a standalone company in October 2012. Before the public offering, it operated as a segment of Dean Foods.
WhiteWave has a long history with the Jacksonville location.
The Westside plant comprises 14 buildings, according to property records.
The first structure was developed in 1947 and the rest were added through 2012.
The property was owned by Longlife Dairy Products Inc. Through a series of mergers and changes among WhiteWave predecessor and sister companies, the property was acquired in August 2006 by WWFC Inc. of Dallas.
The city assisted a predecessor company at the site, authorizing $66,270 in tax relief over five years starting in 2001 and committing in 2002 to $374,000 in grants and a tax refund for job creation.
Those deals were with Ryan Foods LLC, which in 2002 proposed to renovate the property to make the Silk soy-based product. At the time, Ryan was a division of Morningstar Foods, one of five operating divisions of Dean Foods Co.
In 2003, WhiteWave announced plans to develop a faciilty there to process soybeans for use by the Westside plant. It has been operating there since.
Since 2006, the WWF Operating Co. and WhiteWave Foods have invested at least $2.53 million in renovations and additions at the property.
That doesn’t include equipment and furnishings. Permit records show WhiteWave has added space and foundations; reroofed; installed plumbing, fire-sprinkler systems, lighting, signs and other utilities; and added a guard house, among other work.
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