Greenfield Cheese-Make and Conversion Facility

Dennis Group is the design-builder for this new cheesemaking plant, set to be the largest in the Great Lakes Cheese network. This is the 5^th greenfield facility Dennis Group has executed for Great Lakes Cheese on a design-build basis, along with numerous other expansions.

Groundbreaking began in April 2022 and received certificate of occupancy in December 2023 for a portion of the facility for conversion operation. GLC will be producing cheese by the end of 2024.

The state-of-the-art facility will process 4 million pounds of milk per day, delivered by 80 tankers from 35,000 cows, to produce mozzarella, provolone, American cheddar, and whey powder. Additionally, the plant will include conversion capabilities for shredding and slicing cheese and features a 130-foot tower and a 7-million-gallon anaerobic low-rate reactor, with a dissolved nitrogen flotation and membrane bioreactor to meet NYSDEC requirements.

This project features a pallet racking solution consisting of 28,800 pallet positions across 6 warehouse spaces.

Special consideration was given to the Raw Goods warehouse to accommodate totes containing 30 blocks of cheddar. The push-back racking system carts were specially designed for these totes’ type and weight. Additionally, the in-rack fire protection system design was tailored to the warehouse layout, maximizing space utilization and ensuring proper protection for plastic loads.

DG executed incentive negotiation, winning National Grid and national Fuel incentives for the project, and 250+ new jobs were created with the establishment of the new facility.