By Owen Pfeiffer
WEST SENECA — Upstate Niagara Cooperative’s planned expansion of its West Seneca dairy plant has grown for the third time, to $325 million. The farmer-owned cooperative is now asking the Erie County Industrial Development Agency for about twice the sales-tax break it was approved for last year. Part of the reason is that the site doesn’t have enough electricity.
The cooperative’s amended application, posted by the agency this month, says that “due to lack of available electricity, it is necessary to add linear generators to the project to power the expansion, at a cost of over $35 million.” The agency will hold a public hearing on the revised project at 3 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 27, at the West Seneca Community Center and Library, 1300 Union Road.
The numbers
Under the filing, the project, titled “W Seneca Expansion 2024 – Revised,” would add 231,410 square feet to the cooperative’s existing 222,851-square-foot plant at 3300 North America Drive, which opened in 2005. The addition would include 200,502 square feet of manufacturing space, 22,118 square feet of warehouse space and 8,790 square feet of offices, built on adjacent vacant land the cooperative already owns.
The application breaks the $325 million down as follows:
- $105.1 million for the building addition;
- $184.9 million for manufacturing equipment;
- $35 million for the linear generators.
The cooperative lists $323.5 million in bank financing, which it says is not yet secured, and $1.5 million from Empire State Development. The application says construction has begun, with occupancy planned for July 2027 and completion by the end of September 2027.
The cooperative is asking for a sales-tax exemption on about $145 million in purchases, which the application values at $12,687,500. It is also seeking a mortgage-recording-tax exemption worth $1.89 million on a $252 million mortgage, plus a property-tax abatement through the agency’s standard payment-in-lieu-of-taxes agreement.
The project would keep 240 full-time jobs and add 130, the filing says. It lists average salaries of $71,000 for retained jobs and $70,000 for new ones. The cooperative expects only 3% of sales to be in Erie County, 33% elsewhere in New York and 63% in other states.
How the project grew
The project has changed several times. When it first came to the agency in 2024, it was a $150 million, 250,000-square-foot addition. In May 2025, the cooperative’s board approved a $250 million plan. The agency’s September 2025 amendatory resolution raised the project to $255 million while cutting the addition to 165,000 square feet. That resolution raised the sales-tax exemption to as much as $6,125,000, from $3,937,500. It added the $1.89 million mortgage-tax break and estimated the property-tax abatement at about $4 million, for a total of about $12 million in incentives. The board approved it unanimously. The meeting minutes record that Chair Brenda McDuffie “noted the strong average wage/salary” of the jobs.
The new filing gives three reasons for the growth. Building and equipment costs rose as early “rough estimates” were refined, and new expenses appeared, “such as a new sewer line.” The generators add more than $35 million. And the building is somewhat larger than the 2025 version, although still smaller than first planned. The cooperative wrote that it dropped space reserved for future growth, chose not to build a fully automated cooler, and cut the number of production lines “while maintaining similar throughput.”
The application says the generators were chosen over conventional ones to keep “the additional carbon footprint from power generation to a minimum.” Self-generation at a major industrial site has become more common as manufacturers report waits for new grid capacity. The filing does not say what the local utility offered or when.
What supporters say
“This expansion is a testament to our commitment to growing with our customers, operational excellence and long-term sustainability for our farmers,” the cooperative’s chief executive, Kevin Ellis, said when the board approved the plan in 2025, according to a company release. “An expanded facility, right here in the heart of Western New York, will allow us to better serve our community and our customers.”
Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz, who sits on the agency’s board, praised the revised plan. “Upstate could have made this expansion at any of their other New York sites but they chose West Seneca,” Mr. Poloncarz told WBEN, which first reported the $325 million figure on Oct. 15. “Just like you can produce steel, you can produce yogurt,” he said. “Expect to see a lot of cranes and construction equipment in West Seneca because of this project.”
The cooperative, whose brands include Upstate Farms, Bison and Milk for Life, is made up of about 260 dairy farms, mostly in New York, according to its application. WBEN reported that the agency is expected to vote on the revised package in November.
How to weigh in
Under the hearing notice in the application, written comments will be accepted until 4 p.m. on Nov. 17 through the agency’s website or by mail to the Erie County Industrial Development Agency, 95 Perry St., Suite 403, Buffalo, NY 14203.
The Buffalo Chronicle has asked Upstate Niagara Cooperative about the generators, its power supply and the status of its financing. This article will be updated with any response.
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