250,000-square-foot cold-storage facility opens in Mount Crawford

A 250,000-square-foot cold-storage facility officially opened in Mount Crawford on Thursday with Gov. Ralph Northam on hand for the ribbon cutting.

Built by Rockingham County-based InterChange Cold Storage LLC, the faciltity represents a $41.6 million investment and the expected creation of 88 jobs.

State officials expect the cold-storage facility to be an integral part of the supply chain serving Shenandoah Valley’s growing cluster of food and beverage manufacturers, which employs more than 9,200 workers.

InterChange’s long-term plans include more than doubling its total cold-storage space to approximately 600,000 square feet.

The company’s Mount Crawford facility received financial support from the commonwealth.

Northam last year approved a $300,000 grant from the Governor’s Agriculture and Forestry Industries Development (AFID) Fund for the project. It also received $650,000 from the Virginia Department of Transportation’s Economic Development Access Fund and $450,000 in Rail Industrial Access Program funding from the Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transit.

Road improvements and new rail service to the Mount Crawford site will connect the InterChange facility to area manufacturers and the Port of Virginia in Hampton Roads, with an eye toward boosting food product exports.

In setting up its new facility, Interchange also will be supported with employee training assistance through the Virginia Jobs Investment Program, which is administered by the Virginia Economic Development Partnership.