$170 million cold storage facilty headed to Claymont

Agile Cold Storage will build a 275,000-square-foot facility in Claymont that’s expected to open next summer. Rendering courtesy of Agile Cold Storage.

A new $170 million cold storage facility will break ground in Claymont this fall and is expected to add about 130 jobs when it opens next summer.

Agile Cold Storage will build a 275,000-square-foot cold-storage facility to help meet growing demand from North American food manufacturers, processers and growers.

The addition will be the first company warehouse outside its home state of Georgia and will go up in First State Crossing, a brownfield property that previously was a steel mill, along Naamans Road.

The new facility will bring jobs to an area that was hard hit by the closing of nearby industrial companies.

Jobs there will include management and supervisors, general laborers, forklift operators, inventory control, customer service and maintenance. The average salary will be $56,000, an official said.

Additional jobs are likely to be added by partner service providers associated with the facility.

Agile Cold specializes in blast freezing, layer/case picking, cross docking, export services, tempering and e-commerce and offers automation in warehouse receiving, storage and shipping and a multi-temperature storage network suitable for a wide variety of inventory.

The company’s Agile Cold Claymont division will invest that $170 million over two phases across the next five years.

Thes state will be kicking in $4.o5 million of that through a Capital Expenditures Grant of up to $4.05 million from the Delaware Strategic Fund and another $510,000 through a Council on Development Finance for a Jobs Performance Grant. To get the grants, Agile Cold must meet commitments promised to the state.

Agile Cold specializes in blast freezing, layer/case picking, cross docking, export services, tempering and e-commerce and offers automation in warehouse receiving, storage and shipping and a multi-temperature storage network suitable for a wide variety of inventory.

 “Their operations will build on Delaware’s strong foundation in food manufacturing and transportation, helping our region’s supply chain,” said Gov. John Carney.

Agile Cold Storage short history

Founded in 2020, Agile Cold operates two facilities in the Metro Atlanta area and is planning a third in Macon.

Adding an automated multi-temperature warehouse in Delaware will allow Agile Cold to expand into the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast markets and help meet growing proximity-related demands for fresh, refrigerated and frozen foods and more frequent deliveries.

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It also will provide much-needed modern infrastructure to a food supply chain challenged by aging, outdated and energy-inefficient cold storage that lacks the height, column spacing and multi-temperature zones required by modern food suppliers.

In addition to bringing jobs to Claymont, the new faciility will support business at the Port of Wilmington and future operations at the proposed port expansion at Edgemoor.

Delaware Prosperity Partnership worked with Agile Cold over the last year as it considered possible sites in Delaware and surrounding states for its Northeast/Mid-Atlantic expansion.

Don Schoenl, Agile Cold Storage president and CEO, thanked state officials for recognizing the need for modernized cold storage and the benefits that it offers, including job creation and improved supply chain efficiencies.

Betsy Price

Betsy Price is a Wilmington freelance writer who has 40 years of experience, including 15 at The News Journal in Delaware.