OLATHE, KAN. — Olathe city officials recently approved tax incentives to build a beef facility for retail products.
The unnamed company’s project, known as Project Sandhills currently, conducts business in several merchandising units, including grocery.
The company’s subsidiary, 1918 LLC, requested insurance of $257 million in industrial revenue bonds for the facility’s construction. The first announcement for the proposed plant was made in early March.
According to plans, the 320,000-square-foot plant would be built on a 138-acre site near the corner of 167th Street and 169 Highway.
Over the next decade, the project is expected to create nearly 700 full-time jobs with a total estimated payroll of $23.5 million. In the first year, the facility is projected to generate $282 million in sales and to grow to $502 million in 10 years.
The application said operations at the plant would not include slaughter. All animals would be raised and processed in another state. The property will also be annexed into the city before the project starts.
The company does not currently operate industrial facilities in Olathe but has retail locations in the city. After opening the planned Olathe plant, all its Kansas retail stores’ Choice beef cuts would be supplied through the local production.
The Olathe operation would also cover Choice beef production for other retail stores in Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Missouri and Arkansas.
Ross Benitz, a director of credits and incentives at Grant Thornton who submitted the original application in Olathe, said to MEAT+POULTRY that he was not able to comment on the proposed project.