Pet Food Maker Blue Buffalo to Build $100 Million Plant

Pet food manufacturer Blue Buffalo Pet Products is building a $100 million facility on 89 acres in Richmond, IN, the company announced Tuesday.

With construction anticipated to start in the second half of 2016, the development will also include an R&D center and will be the Wilton, CT-based company’s second manufacturing plant in the United States.

“This is a very big day for Blue Buffalo. This new, state of the art addition to our manufacturing network will complement our facility in Missouri. We expect to further increase our internal production capacity and now will have two of the most modern manufacturing facilities in the pet food industry,” said the company’s chairman and founder Bill Bishop in a statement. “Additionally, we plan to open a state of the art R&D facility on our premises. We are also very proud of our plan to create over 160 full time jobs and look forward to being an upstanding partner in the Richmond community.”

Over $1.6 million in tax credits was offered to Blue Buffalo by the Indian Economic Development Corporation, basing on the number of jobs the company plans on creating in the state, the Indianapolis Business Journal reported. Wayne County and the city of Richmond have also offered incentives to the company.