Renzi Foodservice plans expansion of Watertown distribution facility

The only remaining local food distributor in the north country is planning an expansion to keep up with demand.

Renzi Foodservice has proposed a 20,000-square-foot addition to its headquarters and refrigerated and frozen storage facility at 901 Rail Drive in City Center Industrial Park. The food distributor also has a multi-temperature storage building at 948 Bradley St.

“Originally designed as a phased-out project totaling 350,000 square feet of warehouse and office space, much of Renzi Foodservice’s future growth hinges on expanding its customer base in the north country, as well as outside areas,” Jude Renzi, Renzi Foodservice’s vice president of sales and marketing, said in a statement Tuesday. “As we continue to grow exponentially, we also continue to grow both our facility operations and opportunities for employment to accommodate that growth.”

The expansion will add 15,000 square feet of frozen storage space to the southeast side of the building and 5,000 square feet of staging area and dock space, including two new bays, to the northeast end of the building. The building now covers about 55,000 square feet, which is the same size as the Bradley Street location.

“The goal of the project is to consolidate all cold storage from outside facilities and convert the Bradley Street location into a dry storage building, moving all frozen product to Rail Drive,” Mr. Renzi said.

The plans must be approved by the city’s Planning Board, which meets next at 4 p.m. Sept. 6., and the City Council. The Watertown Local Development Corp. has been asked to support the project through a participation loan with a commercial lender, CEO Donald W. Rutherford said Tuesday. But because the distributor purchased the property in the industrial park, which the corporation has developed, no other approvals from the corporation are needed.

Mr. Rutherford said city officials had hoped the company would expand on the industrial park site, as originally planned in 2003.

“That’s a good thing,” he said.

Renzi Foodservice started in 1977 and is now one of the largest family-owned and operated food distributors in upstate New York. The headquarters were moved to Rail Drive in 2007.