Darigold to build $500 million Tri-Cities plant, creating 1,200 jobs

Darigold will build a $500 million processing plant in Pasco under a new deal with the Port of Pasco.

When done, the plant that will make specialized protein powder and butter, will create 200 on-site jobs and addition 1,000 support service jobs.

More than half of the 400,000-square foot facility’s products are expected to be exported, particularly to Pacific Rim countries, said the port in a news release.

The $3.3 million sale of 150 acres at the Reimann Industrial Center is half of the port’s newly created 300-acre business park.

“This is the largest private industrial development to ever occur at the Port of Pasco,” said Commission President Jim Klindworth. “The new jobs at the plant and the new jobs at dairy farms create extraordinary opportunities for Franklin County residents.”

The port bought the area about a mile north of the Pasco Processing Center, off Highway 395 in north Pasco, in 2019. It paid $6.5 million.

Darigold still has 120 to 180 days to close on the deal and is contingent on several deadlines.

The Seattle-based company has 11 other plants in the Northwest. Darigold is the marketing and processing subsidiary of Northwest Dairy Association, a co-op of 350 dairy farm families in Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Montana.

The closest to Tri-Cities is in Sunnyside, where it is the company’s largest milk-receiving facility and a dedicated cheese and whey plant.

The company is expected to complete construction of the new Pasco facility in fall 2023.

Pasco industrial center

When the sale is final, it will be the first company to buy land at the port’s newly established Reimann Industrial Center.

“We are thrilled to welcome Darigold to Pasco and the Reimann as the anchor tenant in the Port’s largest industrial park. It’s incredibly rare to attract a project of this size and scope,” said Executive Director Randy Hayden in a release. “Darigold’s state-of-the-art facility will use the latest technology, serve as a model of sustainability, and create a new market for our region’s ag producers.”

The deal guarantees that the port will receive a $7.5 million reimbursement from the Washington state Department of Commerce toward the money spent to develop infrastructure for the industrial park.

The state approved the funding earlier this year with the caveat that the port get a large-scale food processor by the end of 2022.

In an April commission meeting, port officials said that negotiations with Darigold — called “Project Ruby” — relied heavily on the infrastructure plan in order for the agreement to move forward.

Port officials thanked Franklin County, the city of Pasco, the Franklin PUD and the Tri-City Industrial Council (TRIDEC) for their work on the project.

This story was originally published July 1, 2021 at 11:19 AM.