This article by Bob Audette was published by the Brattleboro Reformer on April 26.
[B]RATTLEBORO — The managing member of a proposed “value-added” dairy facility in the Exit One Industrial Park is no stranger to Brattleboro.
According to documents filed with the Vermont secretary of state, Thomas Moffitt, the former president of Commonwealth Dairy, is behind the $32.5 million push to rehabilitate a factory recently vacated by a defense contractor.
“We would be supportive even if it were strangers who were putting together a project to bring nearly $30 million of private investment and dozens of high quality jobs to Brattleboro, but we are especially enthusiastic about this project because it is being led by Tom Moffit,” Brattleboro Town Manager Peter Elwell wrote in an email to the Reformer.
Moffitt is being represented by the Brattleboro office of Downs Rachlin Martin. Calls and emails to the law firm seeking comment had not been returned as of press time Wednesday.
At the Brattleboro Selectboard’s April 17 meeting, the board learned about Culture Made Vermont LLC, which hopes to lease 353 John Seitz Drive from the Brattleboro Development Credit Corp. In January 2017, L3 KEO shuttered its plant at that location. During the April 17 meeting, the Brattleboro Selectboard approved a $1 million implementation grant application to the Vermont Community Development Program on behalf of the BDCC. The CDBG program, which is administered by the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development, allows states to award grants to projects “that develop and preserve decent affordable housing, to provide services to the most vulnerable in our communities, and to create and retain jobs.”
The Selectboard also committed to at least $840,000 in municipal sewer/water upgrades to hook the proposed facility up to the town’s culinary water system and wastewater treatment plant. Assistant Town Manager Patrick Moreland told the Reformer that the cost for upgrades would be recouped from user fees paid by the factory once it is up and running.
Moffitt co-founded Commonwealth in Brattleboro in 2010 with Ben Johnson. Shortly after, the pair partnered up with Ehrmann USA Holding, a subsidiary of German dairy company Ehrmann AG. The 38,000-square-foot facility on Omega Drive opened a year later, and expanded its local factory in 2013. Also in 2013, Commonwealth opened a plant in Casa Grande, Arizona, which employs 100. The company’s product distribution reaches from coast to coast and Commonwealth also ships to the Caribbean and South America.
In 2016, Commonwealth announced a $20 million investment projected to increase its workforce to a total of 200 employees. According to the Brattleboro Planning Department, that expansion is still in the works.
While Commonwealth produces yogurt products for private labels, its own Green Mountain Creamery line of Greek yogurt products has driven most of the company’s expansion, Moffitt told the Reformer in 2016.
Last year, Moffitt left Commonwealth Dairy, telling the Reformer he had accomplished all he had set out to accomplish.
“Tom’s track record in conceiving Commonwealth Dairy and building it rapidly into an important local employer speaks for itself,” wrote Elwell. “We are pleased that he sees the potential to accomplish similar results with this new venture right here in Brattleboro. We will continue to work with Tom, BDCC, and the state of Vermont in the effort to help Culture Made Vermont successfully launch.”
Adam Grinold, the executive director of the BDCC, told the Reformer on Tuesday that he was prevented from disclosing details by a non-disclosure agreement. On Wednesday, he declined to comment on Moffitt’s status as the principal business agent behind Culture Made Vermont.
But he said the interested parties sought out the BDCC because of its “experience and capacity to take their vision” and help them realize it. Perhaps the most important factor, Grinold said, is the 24,000-square-foot factory sitting empty in the industrial park.
“When companies look to expand or start up here in Vermont, they must find ways to close the gap on financing their efforts,” Grinold told the Reformer in an email on Wednesday. “A project’s success is not found in leasing versus building, rather it is on the ability to bring together all local, regional, state and federal resources, aligned in support of the project goals.
“We know that in Vermont, appraised values are less than the cost to build. So, if a building costs $200 a square foot to build and will appraise at $115 a square foot, the project company must close this gap,” Grinold explained. “The BDCC works with municipalities across the region as well as the state of Vermont to help identify resources to encourage the expansion of existing firms. In the case of Culture Made Vermont, as detailed in the recent CDBG hearing, the BDCCowned property at 343 John Seitz Drive will be leased to the project company after renovations and additions are complete.”
According to documents filed with the secretary of state’s office, up until Oct. 27, 2017, Downs Rachlin Martin represented Ehrmann USA Holding.
According to a job listings website, since April 2, Ehrmann has been in search of a Brattleboro-based engineering project manager who will be responsible for all capital projects and capital budgets in Vermont and Arizona. In addition, the project manager will be responsible for creating, monitoring and executing “a detailed work plan which identifies and sequences the activities needed to complete the project.”
In an earlier job listing, posted on March 29, Ehrmann is searching for a research and development manager, who will provide support “in the creation of new innovative products and product reformulations.” The R& D manager will also be responsible for “Spearhead[ing] the development of on-site R& D facility.”
Brian Bannon, zoning officer for the Brattleboro Planning Department, said he has no information on any possible connection between Ehrmann and Culture Made Vermont. However, he did note that due to “slopes and other natural resource protections,” there is no room for expansion other than what has already been approved at Commonwealth’s current location on Omega Drive.
A request for a comment from Commonwealth Dairy was not returned by press time.
