A groundbreaking ceremony is tentatively scheduled for mid-October on Port Milwaukee’s largest project in at least six decades — a $35 million agricultural-product export facility on Jones Island.
The Milwaukee Common Council on Sept. 1 approved Port Milwaukee’s financing in support of the project by the DeLong Company Inc. of Clinton, which is in Rock County near Beloit. Port Milwaukee, which is owned by the city of Milwaukee, has committed at least $5.7 million to the project that was announced in February 2020.
Demolition of existing structures at the 3.95-acre site is expected to be completed by Sept. 10, said Port Milwaukee director Adam Tindall-Schlicht. The goal is to open the new facility by April 2023 in time for the 2023 shipping season, he said in an interview Friday.
“We are full-steam ahead,” he said of the project.
DeLong will contribute $8.4 million to the project. Besides the company and the port, the funding sources are $15.8 million from the U.S. Department of Transportation and $4.7 million from the Wisconsin Department of Transportation.
DeLong signed a 30-year lease with the port that calls for annual rent payments of $118,500. Port officials estimate additional revenue through increased commercial utilization of the port averaging $100,000 per year.
The DeLong facility will add 200,000 tons to 500,000 tons of annual exports from Milwaukee, Tindall-Schlicht said. That would amount to a 10% to 25% increase in total tonnage from the average annual range, he said.
Agricultural commodities from Wisconsin and other states in the Upper Midwest will be shipped via truck and rail to the new terminal on the inland side of Jones Island, Tindall-Schlicht said. The project includes silos and a storage facility and DeLong has yet to finalize precise square footage, he said.
The DeLong project represents the largest single capital expense at Port Milwaukee at least since the St. Lawrence Seaway opened in 1959, Tindall-Schlicht said.
“This facility is going to serve regional customers for decades to come,” he said. “It is going to advance economic opportunities and activity for farmers and producers throughout the state of Wisconsin and beyond.”