WEBSTER, N.Y. — Dairy producer fairlife broke ground on Thursday morning on its brand new 745,000-square-foot manufacturing facility in Webster.

Gov. Kathy Hochul helped to toss the first shovel of dirt for the construction of the $650 million facility on Tebor Road. fairlife, owned by Coca-Cola, creates products with an ultra-filtered milk process that removes lactose and most of the sugar from milk while leaving the protein and calcium. Its products include protein shakes.

Hochul said the facility will help to push the state’s dairy industry forward.

“This was a statement that this part of our state matters. That these investments yes, could have gone to other parts of our country, but you picked this area and you picked this community because you saw the potential,” Hochul said.

The new facility is expected to create 250 new jobs. The company received $21 million in incentives and assistance through the state’s Excelsior Jobs Tax Credit program, an $8.5 million grant to bring power to the site, and more than $63 million in tax breaks and incentives from the Monroe County Industrial Development Agency.  In addition, the Governor announced on Thursday the Town of Webster would get a $20 million grant to build a wastewater treatment plant to serve the facility.   

fairlife expects the facility to be fully operational by the end of 2025.

RELATED: Local unions pushing fairlife to sign project labor agreement (Nov. 17)