Funding will help pay for street improvement project at planned Coopersville dairy plant

Fri, Jan 15, 2010    to del.icio.us

COOPERSVILLE — A Midwest milk cooperative has plans to turn the former Delphi plant in Coopersville into a milk processing plant, and the state announced a grant this week to help fund its development.

Gov. Jennifer Granholm said Tuesday the awarding of state transportation economic development grants will support 3,650 jobs in Clare, Oakland and Ottawa counties. She said the Transportation Economic Development Fund Category A grants totaling nearly $2.5 million will leverage more than $177 million in private investment.

One of those grants will fund an estimated $402,000 transportation improvement project in Coopersville.

Continental Dairy Products Inc., a milk cooperative with 28 member dairy farms located in the Midwest, recently selected the site of the former Delphi plant on Randall Street in Coopersville over Indiana for a new milk processing plant. Six million pounds of milk per day are expected to be processed into dry powder, cream, condensed milk, non-fat dry milk and liquid concentrate for domestic wholesale markets.

The company plans to renovate and construct an addition to the former Delphi plant to house operations. The company said it will create 70 new jobs and make a total private investment of $100 million.

Each day, the plant is expected to receive about 100 milk trucks and ship out finished products through a freight entrance on Randall Street. Randall Street is in poor condition, according to state officials, and will be reconstructed from 68th Avenue to the plant's freight entrance in order to accommodate the truck traffic. The project will include new concrete pavement, along with curb and gutter.

Construction is planned for this year and is expected to be completed prior to the opening of the plant in 2011. The estimated cost of these transportation improvements is $402,000 — including $321,600 in state TEDF money and $80,400 in a local match from the city of Coopersville.

Granholm also announced on Tuesday a $1.27 million TEDF grant will help pay for a $7.3 million transportation improvement project in Clare County to assist the expansion of a wood chipper manufacturer in Farwell, and an $863,350 TEDF grant will help pay for a $2 million transportation improvement project to assist Michigan Motion Picture Studios LLC build a new studio in Pontiac in Oakland County.