The Cornerstone Alliance Business Development Team has teamed up with Pero Family Farms Food Company once again for another major expansion project at their Yore Avenue facility in Benton Charter Township following approval by the township's Board of Trustees last night on a 12-year tax abatement for the project.
Last September, Cornerstone went to bat for the Delray Beach, Florida-based company in garnering a previous tax abatement on a $3.6-million expansion plan which allowed the company to convert from what had been simply a cold-storage distribution center to a fresh-cut vegetable facility. The rapid-fire success of that transition has lead to capacity issues and the company will now expand their footprint by an additional 8,320 square feet to accommodate the sizable uptick in product sales and distribution.
Cornerstone's Cathy Tilley accompanied Pero Family Farms General Manager Alfonso Chavez in presenting to the Benton Township Board of Trustee's last night. She expressed delight at the growth Pero Family Farms is experiencing in the township, saying, "The Cornerstone Alliance Business Development team has been working with Pero since 2015 as they converted their distribution center to a fresh cut vegetable facility, creating 74 new jobs over a three year period." She added, "As part of this transition, Pero was able to retain 50 existing jobs, making them full time from what had been seasonal work."
The 8,300 square foot expansion will get underway this month and is expected to be complete by this October. The tax abatement approved by the township last night on the $1.9-million project at 2130 Yore Avenue will provide 50-percent relief over the 12-year life span of the agreement.
The fresh-cut processing center operates year-round, utilizing produce from local and regional farms in our growing season, and will ship in produce from Florida and southern states during the winter seasons, keeping the center humming year round. The original transition plans contained the conversion within the existing footprint of the building built about 10-years ago, but sales growth has commanded this expansion project.
Pero Family Farms Food Company is a sales, marketing and distribution group and part of the agricultural corporation headquartered in Delray Beach, Florida. The company was founded in 1908 in Western New York by Sicilian immigrant Peter Pero, whose 10-year old son would bring their crops to the train station by horse-drawn wagon. Four generations later, the company is still family-owned and family-farmed.
Cornerstone Alliance was instrumental in helping steer the fresh-cut processing center operation to the Benton Township site after learning of Pero's desire to establish a center somewhere in the North Central or Northeastern United States. The Cornerstone Business Development team worked with corporate officials and the Michigan Economic Development Corporation in capturing the project for Michigan's Great Southwest. The local site beat competing options in Pennsylvania, New York and elsewhere in Michigan for this major project.
Just last month Cornerstone awarded the Pero family with their Food Processing Large Business Award at a Business Recognition Breakfast at Lake Michigan College.
