Imperial Regional Alliance continues pursuit of local cold-storage project
EL CENTRO — Envisioning a local cold storage facility capable of freezing meat and produce, and storing it temporarily, the Imperial Regional Alliance has submitted a request for qualifications for a cold-storage project business plan.
IRA, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization established in 2011, is working in collaboration with other agencies, including the Imperial Valley Economic Development Corp., to consider the development of such a facility.
“We are looking at deep freezing, way below zero,” Timothy E. Kelley, IVEDC president and CEO told Imperial Valley Press last week. “We have a lot of coolers here, but we are looking at retaining product for a longer period of time.”
Coolers are used to chill fresh produce, but do not have the capability to freeze raw food, Kelley said.
The proposed facility would be similar to a 50,000-square-feet warehouse that would be outfitted with extra insulation and the equipment needed to freeze and store large quantities of food, he said.
Request for qualifications
The RFQ is for a site selection and suitability analysis and business plan for the envisioned facility, which would be built and operated in Imperial County. The site selection and suitability analysis will evaluate key factors for the project such as economic feasibility, market feasibility, technical feasibility, financial feasibility, management feasibility and overall project feasibility.
The business plan will rely on several components of the site selection and suitability analysis, and will contain a project description, management and organization plan, information on target markets and customers both international and domestic, a marketing plan and a financial plan.
If the business plan determines the construction and operation of a local cold-storage project is feasible, then the next step would be to determine how to finance the project.
“The RFP that went out was to hire somebody to actually do the business plan, so we can take that to the bank,” Kelley said.
“What we are doing is basically setting the table for that opportunity to bring in either a company to build it or somebody to manage the facility. This business plan will help us identify those things.
We have not made a decision on who’d own it, but what we would do is get everything prepared.
It could be owned by a non-profit, it could be owned by a for-profit, so there are a lot of different options we are looking at.”
Previous study completed
A previous feasibility study to determine if a cold storage unit would be beneficial to Imperial County was concluded in June by a contractor from Texas A&M University who was paid $60,000 for the service by the USDA Office of Rural Development.
“We did complete a feasibility study, and it came back very positive,” Kelley said. “It was determined it is feasible. There are needs for additional cold storage here in Imperial County, and so it was decided to put a business plan together and that is where we are now, trying to determine what is the best situation for ownership, for funding, identifying occupiers and additional companies that could be enticed to come to Imperial County if we had this important part of infrastructure in place.”
The cold storage unit would be a stopover for produce and meat exiting and entering the United States through the Calexico port of entry, Kelley said.
“The feasibility study showed that about 60 percent of the product is coming from south of the border and 40 percent is going south,” he said. “That is a very good ratio. Anything close to 50-50 is great. However, of the product that is going south, almost all of it is not stopping here in Imperial County. Of that coming from the south, there is little of it stopping here in Imperial County.”
Both the construction of a cold storage facility and its continued operation would create jobs for Imperial Valley residents, Kelley said.
Contractor qualifications
Contractors interested in submitting an RFQ must provide detailed information regarding the history of their firm, qualifications and relevant work experience of all contractor staff that will be working on this project.
The contractor will address freight and transportation flow and handling outside the facility, necessary holding capacity for frozen and cold storage in the short-to-long term that will be based on current and anticipated market demand, office space, ability for future expansion, and freezing, cold storage and overall processing features.
The contractor also will provide a list of potential sites for the cold storage facility. For each location, the contractor will offer a finding on interest by potential users, proximity to transportation modes, estimated land value, existing ownership, necessary improvements, easement or other lien issues, environmental concerns, on-site logistics for large containers and other appropriate equipment, and access to transportation infrastructure.
“We are looking throughout Imperial County and there are some things we are taking into consideration — whether we need have rail access, natural gas and other things,” Kelley said. “Obviously, the new port of entry is a desirable area, but we are not eliminating any location in Imperial County.”
The contractor also will estimate the likely capital costs for the cold-storage facility, including the cost of land, the building shell and foundation, utilities, cold generation equipment, freezing equipment, processing equipment, office equipment, project management costs and construction financing costs.
The RFQ must be delivered to Kelley via email at tim@ivedc.com by 5 p.m. on Wednesday.