Cypress Cold Storage announced Tuesday that it is investing $13 million and creating more than 30 new jobs at its Maumelle facility, which is more than doubling in size and is the beginning of an expansion wave that will reach Northwest Arkansas later this year.
The company, which provides temperature-controlled storage space for the food sector, is adding 88,400 square feet to its Maumelle facility at 11100 Louis Nelson Drive. That means the facility will be able to accommodate storage of 18,000 pallets of frozen goods, up from 7,000, according to company President Michael McAfee.
"We not just doubled the facility, we have significantly expanded the amount of throughput we can push through," McAfee said, noting that the company has increased its daily processing of goods from 2 million pounds a day to about 4.5 million pounds daily. "This is a high-volume warehouse."
Chickens, turkeys and other foods that require temperature control in the distribution process are stored at the facility. Tyson Foods Inc. is one of Cypress' largest customers. Goods are shipped for storage at Cypress Cold Storage's warehouses before they are distributed to other customers for sale and use.
Arkansas Secretary of Commerce Mike Preston, Maumelle Mayor Caleb Norris and other local officials joined Cypress executives for Tuesday's announcement.
"The entrepreneurial spirit is alive and well in Arkansas, and Cypress Cold Storage is an example of how one company with a vision can impact an industry," Preston said in a news release. "I look forward to working with the company as they embark on this expansion."
Cypress also operates a smaller warehouse, with the capacity to store about 6,000 pallets, in the Dark Hollow area of North Little Rock, an area east of Interstate 30 and north of the Union Pacific railroad yard.
Both facilities, previously owned by Frostyaire of Arkansas Inc., were purchased when Cypress was formed in 2019. At the time, the warehouses had about 14 employees. The company projects it will have 50 employees by the end of the month, with the additions primarily in Maumelle, and could be up to 70 when the expansion is finished.
"Both of these facilities have been total turnarounds," McAfee added.
"They were sort of neglected facilities that needed capital investments, they needed expansion and they needed to create a culture that customers believed in and where they wanted to store their products."
Cypress already is plotting an expansion into Northwest Arkansas later this year, according to McAfee. "We're not done expanding," he added. "In the next couple of months we're planning to announce an expansion bigger than the one in Maumelle in Northwest Arkansas. Our customers are asking us to expand up there so we're going to Northwest Arkansas."
Arkansas if offering the company incentives through the tax back program, which provides sales and use tax refunds on the purchase of building materials and machinery and equipment, and the Arkansas advantage program, which offers state income tax credits based on new jobs created.
"We are extremely pleased that Cypress Cold Storage is in a position to expand and invest in their existing facility in Maumelle and for the additional jobs that the expansion creates," Norris said in the news release. "Supporting our existing industries continues to be a priority, and we are thankful for the collaboration between Cypress Cold Storage, AEDC, Pulaski County, and the City of Maumelle for this expansion."