Beech-Nut demolition 'pretty much wrapped up' in Canajoharie

Remnants of the former Beech-Nut baby food plant, an industrial staple of the village for more than a century, are mostly gone at the tail end of a months-long demolition project.

Crews from Ritter & Paratore Contracting, Inc. have started moving equipment offsite. Permanent fencing will be installed around the 26.9-acre site perimeter as early as this week.

“As far as most of the bulk work, obviously, you can tell it’s pretty much wrapped up,” said Montgomery County Business Development Center Director Ken Rose.

E29 Labs and Pennrose Properties, LLC. seek to eventually redevelop two respective parcels of the site.

The latter Pennsylvania-based developer still needs approval from village planning officials in order to turn the six-acre western parcel into a commercial and residential space. Pennrose bought the property from the county for $450,000 earlier this year.

“They have to do their due diligence and that sort of stuff takes time,” Rose said. “They have to do their financing and market studies, so you’re not gonna see construction on the western part for quite some time into next year.”

Meanwhile, E29 Labs’ plans for the eastern half of the site are contingent on the state Office of Cannabis Management. Owners Shelley and Sheldon Roberts submitted an application for a cannabis cultivation license to OCM in October and plan on commencing construction as soon as they get the state’s OK.

The siblings opted to go through the local approval process first in hopes of gaining an edge on their competition in the freshly legal cannabis market. They received full site plan approval in 2023 — two years after signing off on a $550,000 purchase and sale agreement with the county.

Development of the eastern side is expected to cost $15 to $30 million. Much of the funding is through private investments.

“There is going to be a lot going on behind the scenes over the next year, but as far as seeing something go up, it just doesn’t work that quickly on projects that are fifty-plus million dollars,” Rose said.

Rose said the county is seeking out grant opportunities to bolster plans for a park along the Canajoharie Creek. Public investments such as demolition and asbestos abatement have totaled $10 million since the county acquired the then-decaying plant site in 2017.

Beech-Nut ceased operations in Canajoharie through a multi-year phase-out process after erecting a high-tech facility in the town of Florida in 2011.

The food product manufacturer up until that point had been in the village since 1891, supporting upwards of 2,000 jobs at its peak. By the late noughties, some 300 workers were onsite.

Combined, both companies are anticipated to bring in 600 jobs to the area within the next 10 years. Combined, Pennrose and E29 Labs are expected to create more than 200 jobs in the short-term, in addition to increasing the local housing stock.

Canajoharie lawmakers hoped that the project, in addition to area efforts to bolster childcare and inter-community partnerships, would increase the village’s chances at receiving $10 million from the state Downtown Revitalization Initiative. Recipients are selected each year by region.

In February, Gov. Kathy Hochul named the village of Herkimer as the Mohawk Valley’s 2024 DRI recipient.

“We’re going to try it again, but I think we had all the components that the state wanted,” said Canajoharie Trustee Edward Watt.

Images: Beech-Nut demolition nearing completion (10 photos)