PORT TOWNSEND — A local cheese producer has announced plans to build a structure that will become an anchor for a new business district at the southern end of the city limit.
Mt. Townsend Creamery, which began as an artisan cheese producer in 2006, plans to move to the Howard Street extension, replacing a cramped four-building system with a single 16,000-square-foot structure.
“The fact is, we are out of room,” said Nik Lance, the company’s co-owner and CFO.
“If we want to continue to grow, we will need more space. We have taken it as far as we can here,”
The Howard Street expansion plan was finalized after another plan to relocate at the Chimacum crossroads fell through, Lance said.
The company plans to build a new creamery, warehouse and retail space within city limit along the Howard Street corridor on acreage west of the business park.
This will coincide with the construction of Howard Street that will connect Sims Way with Discovery Way, which is scheduled to occur next year.
The $5 million project, which includes installation of sewer, utilities and drainage in addition to the road construction, will be subsidized through a combination of state and federal transportation funds that have already been secured, City Manager David Timmons said.
The company purchased two adjacent lots that will front the new road, and has begun architectural and engineering design work with plans to begin construction in the middle of 2015 and open for production during the first half of 2016.
Lance said plans for the building have not been drawn up but promised that the new building “will fit the environment and will be warm and inviting.”
“We aren’t looking to make a statement with the architecture,” he said.
The building will include an expanded retail space as well as an easy way for visitors to tour the facility and observe the cheese-making process while maintaining stringent cleanliness guidelines, Lance said.
Increasing capacity will allow the company to meet demand which has been difficult to accomplish with the current facility, he added.
“Right now, our sweet spot is from the Canadian border to Portland,” Lance said.
“We would like to expand into California but we have run into capacity issues. We don’t want to be a company that overpromises and underproduces.”
Staying in Port Townsend also is a priority, he said.
“Some of our distributors think we should move closer to the I-5 corridor,” he said.
“They feel that by staying here, we are leaving money on the table. But we want to stay here.”
Until last week, the company had a retail outlet at Seattle’s Pike Place Market.
But it was closed due to an inability to keep it fully stocked.
“We are still at the Seattle Farmers Market and are selling to some other Pike Place merchants, but we need to concentrate on our wholesale business right now.”
Local employer
The company currently employs 24 people, 18 of whom are full-time.
Mt. Townsend could employ as many as 40 people after the new plant is built, Lance said.
The Mt. Townsend Creamery tasting room is located at 338 Sherman St., and is open Wednesdays through Fridays from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
In addition to its own products, it sells a selection of beer, wine and cider.
For more information, call 360-379-0895.
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Jefferson County Editor Charlie Bermant can be reached at 360-385-2335 or cbermant@peninsuladailynews.com.
