Kosher wine maker seeks $28M property-tax cut for planned Goshen winery and warehouse
GOSHEN - Royal Wine Corp. is seeking approval for a nearly $28 million reduction in property taxes it would pay over 15 years for the future building where it will make Kedem wine and juice and store the kosher wine, spirits and foods it sells to retailers.
The Bayonne, New Jersey-based company is seeking $32 million in tax breaks in all through the Orange County Industrial Development Agency, the small county office that awards companies such benefits as incentives to build or expand their operations in Orange. In addition to the property-tax reduction, Royal Wine is asking the IDA's five-member, appointed board to waive $3.8 million in projected sales tax and $517,000 in mortgage tax.
The IDA will hold a public hearing on the application at 11 a.m. Tuesday at Goshen Village Hall, 276 Main St.
The Goshen Planning Board granted approval in March for Royal Wine to build a 627,000-square-foot winery and warehouse on an 82-acre property off Route 17M. The site was cleared years ago for the proposed Kikkerfrosh brewery, a project that fizzled before construction began.
Approved:Goshen OKs new production and storage site for Kosher wine and juice maker
New details:Planning documents flesh out proposal for kosher winery and warehouse in Goshen
Hearing:Goshen planning board seeks public comment on Royal Wine proposal
Royal Wine, a major producer and wholesale distributor of kosher wine and spirits, already has had a longtime presence in the Hudson Valley with its Kedem winery in the Ulster County hamlet of Marlboro. It's building the Goshen facility to consolidate on a single site the grape-crushing it now does in Marlboro and the blending, bottling and storage of Kedem wine and grape juice that takes place separately in Bayonne, about 80 miles away. Its grapes are grown in the Finger Lakes region of New York and near Buffalo.
According to its application for tax benefits, Royal Wine expects to move 55 full-time jobs to Goshen from its current locations and hire another 45 full-time workers. The new jobs include 35 production workers earning $50,000 a year on average, plus five managers with $80,000 average salaries and five administrative employees with an average pay of $65,000. The company also expects to emplay 20 part-time workers in Goshen during the busy harvest season, including 10 new positions.
The company expects to start construction soon and finish by August 2024.
The IDA benefits Royal Wine is seeking would phase in over 15 years the property taxes it pays to Goshen School District, the village of Goshen, the town of Goshen and Orange County. Under the proposal, it would pay a projected $285,000 instead of $3.1 million in its first year after construction, and its annual bill ultimately would rise to $4.2 million after the tax abatement ends. The company's estimated property taxes over that 15-year period would total almost $31 million.
The Goshen facility will include a visitor center with a tasting room. Royal Wine expects to draw about 100 visitors a day, including busloads of children to watch Kedem juice made during the summer. An average of 50 trucks will come and go each day except during the three-month harvest season from August to October, when the daily average could rise to 75.
In addition to Kedem products, the building will store other food products and beverages Royal Wine sells as a wholesaler. Its portfolio includes about 140 kosher wines and spirits from the U.S. and abroad, including wines made in Israel, France, Italy and Spain.
Chris McKenna covers government and politics for the Times Herald-Record and USA Today Network. Reach him at cmckenna@th-record.com
This article originally appeared on Times Herald-Record: Royal Wine Corp. seeks $28M property tax cut for planned Goshen winery
