More than nine years after Schoharie County’s largest private employer moved out, the former Guilford Mills factory in Cobleskill may soon have a new owner.
A letter of intent to purchase the Cobleskill factory has been signed by a fish farming company called Intelligent Fish to buy the entire plant, Jack Kelley of Coldwell Banker Prime Realty told Schoharie County Supervisors Friday afternoon.
After Guilford Mills left in September 2001, the next owner failed to pay the taxes on the property and the county took ownership a year ago.
Mr. Kelley and county officials did not provide many details on the possible purchase but both sides, and the potential owners of the factory, were pleased Friday.
Though the company will not be able to employ the upwards of 500 workers that Guilford Mills did during its heyday, Mr. Kelley there will be good paying jobs.
Mr. Kelley said the number of jobs would be dependent on the number of functions Intelligent Fish performs at the plant.
If fish is filleted, frozen and shipped directly from the plant, in addition to raising them, there will be more jobs, Mr. Kelley said.
On Saturday, board Chairman Earl VanWormer said the plant could employ about 60 people.
“It wouldn’t be the big boost we hoped for but it [the property] will be back on the tax rolls.”
The production of salmon from the plant could increase quickly, said Dan McVey of Intelligent Fish.
He said the company would be working closing with the fishery department at SUNY Cobleskill and the hope is to produce two million pounds of salmon the first year and to produce five million pounds within the first three years.
Mr. Kelley said the company was at first interested in the smaller building, which totals 120,000-square feet, but is now is also interested in the larger plant, which is 240,000-square feet.
There is still the question on the availability of water, Mr. Kelley said.
Mr. McVey said the company needs water at an affordable rate.
Mr. Kelley would not disclose the purchase price.
That figure, he said, is in discussion and will be negotiated.
“We’ll be back with you and we’ll discuss it,” he said.
The potential purchase, he added, has come together rather quickly in the past few weeks.
Mr. VanWormer said the county has been out about $2 million in delinquent taxes so the purchase price needs to be more than that total.
The asking price for the larger building is $2.6 million and the price for the smaller one is $900,000.
Mr. McVey said he will work with economic development personnel in the county.
In turn, Mr. VanWormer said the county will work with the potential owners.
“We will actively work with you,” he said Friday. “We’ll do our best to keep them [those in economic development] working for you.”
In addition to adding jobs to the county and returning the property to the tax base, Mr. Kelley and Mr. VanWormer saw other positives in a potential sale.
Mr. VanWormer said the new factory could be a model for other areas.
Mr. Kelley said there would be a big “multiplier effect” on local businesses such as Stewart’s, Subway and other eateries and shops because of the return of workers to the plant.
Alicia Terry, the director of county planning, said a fish farming facility would be a good complement to the county’s agricultural traditions as well as to the work being done at the college.
Mr. McVey said the company will have an “educational component” and will be offering internships for students at the college.
Mr. Kelley said that since the county began marketing the property earlier this year, there have been 21 inquiries and seven site visits that yielded two prospects.
There are about 100 similarly-sized plants and so there is not a big demand, he said.
A big factor in the potential sale, he added, are the signs on the property which are visible from I-88.