Hillandale Farms, a Pennsylvania-based supplier of eggs, dairy, bagels and meats, plans to construct a new cold storage and distribution facility that would retain 54 full-time area jobs and could add up to another 20 full-time employees to the local workforce within three years.
The roughly 75,000-square-foot warehouse would sit on about 14 acres on Picton Parkway in the Springfield-Akron Joint Economic Development District’s Massillon Road Industrial Park. On Jan. 19, the Akron City Planning Commission unanimously approved the sale of the city-owned land to the business.
Hillandale Farms, which is relocating Akron operations from 1330 Austin Ave., was previously considering moving those functions to another part of Ohio or another state, said Brad Beckert, city of Akron business retention and expansion manager, building superintendent and flood plain manager.
“This business in particular is more of a retainage, to make sure the jobs stay in Akron, rather than go somewhere else, because it’s very hard to find property around the area right now, especially within the city of Akron, for these businesses to expand and grow,” Beckert said.