BY JOSH DAVISNorth Country This Week

CANTON— The former Kraft plant on Buck Street is now owned by the St. Lawrence County Industrial Development Agency.

The IDA will be maintaining the 30 Buck Street manufacturing site and may seek help from the village of Canton to secure grant funding to make necessary upgrades. Once work has been completed the IDA intends to find a buyer for the facility, Canton Economic Development Director Leigh Rodriguez said at a meeting of the town board Wednesday, March 13.

Rodriguez said that under IDA leadership the plant will be “better maintained” and afforded the opportunity to“transition to a better use.”

She said the agency wishes to maintain the building to keep it salable for future industrial interests.

According to a resolution passed by the IDA recently, the building and land were donated free of charge to the St. Lawrence County Property Development Corporation, which in turn transferred ownership to the IDA, which is reportedly “better suited to oversee the redevelopment and occupancy of the facility.”

The property was donated by St. Lawrence County Manufacturing and Properties, LLC, according to that resolution.

Most recently, a reusable packaging company called Tosca used the Buck Street facility to recondition large scale wooden containers used in cheese production.

The facility was closed at the end of 2023, putting 15 people out of work.

Kraft Foods ceased cheese making operations at the site in 2004 as part of a company-wide restructuring and sold the building. The 2004 cuts eliminated roughly six percent of Kraft’s global workforce.

The 100,000 square foot facility was built in 1951 and received its last major renovation in 1999. It is located between two railroad tracks served by CSX adjacent to the Grass River.

The county IDA web page describes the former Kraft plant as “ideally suited dairy processing, production or food processing and manufacturing. It features large drive-in bay doors and three-story back bay for storage.”

The contact person for interested developers is Bob Ahlfeld at bahlfeld@slcida.com.

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