South Central Business Association

Allgood Foods to Relocate to Riverport

Nov 12, 2001

Algood Food moving to Riverport from site near U of L

Cynthia Eagles Business First Staff Writer

After 16 years in a turn-of-the-century facility near the University of Louisville, peanut butter-maker Algood Food Co. plans to relocate next year to Jefferson Riverport International, where it is building a new plant.

Cecil C. "Barney" Barnett, Algood's founder, sole shareholder and president, said his company has bought about 12 acres on the northeast corner of Tradeport Road and the Greenbelt Highway.

Algood Food's move will occur in stages, with the first phase of the move expected to start in February and the last phase to be completed three months later.

The company has broken ground, and Barnett said he hopes to have the foundation slab poured within the next two weeks.

Barnett declined to disclose how much the new plant will cost, except to say "several million dollars."

"It's our effort to jump-start the economy," Barnett joked.

Kovert Hawkins Architects of Jeffersonville designed the building. Summit Construction is the general contractor.

Algood will be "a nice addition" to the mix of companies in Riverport, said Riverport president Larry McFall. "We're delighted they're going to come here."

The Jefferson County-owned industrial park has approximately 250 acres left, with 100 of those acres in its new phase four section, McFall said.

Gaining flexibility
Algood's plans call for the new building to be 100,000 square feet with 28-foot-high ceilings. The new plant will offer more flexible production operations, Barnett said.

The higher ceilings also will allow for taller shipping-bay doors, which in turn will allow Algood to stack goods higher on its pallets.

The move does not affect Algood's Lawrenceburg, Ky., plant, where it makes jams, jellies, preserves, salsa and barbecue sauce, Barnett said.

The existing Louisville plant operates in a three-story building with 118,000 square feet on less than four acres. Barnett said some of the extra space in the existing plant is cramped and not very flexible.

Records at the Jefferson County Clerk's Office show that the Cecil C. Barnett Family LLC purchased the Riverport site for $911,500 in September from Marsh Riverport LLC, a company operated by developer Charles Marsh of Stephen C. Gault Co. Marsh also is a principal in Summit Construction, which holds the construction contract for the new Algood plant.

Jefferson County Property Valuation Administrator records put the value of Barnett's existing plant at $700,000. Barnett said he plans to sell the existing facility.

May sell old site to U of L
Given the old plant's proximity to the University of Louisville, Barnett said, he believes the school might be the best prospect. He said he has talked with U of L officials to see if the university is interested.

John Drees, a spokesman for U of L, confirmed that Barnett and university officials have discussed the property, but he said he couldn't provide any further details. "We are always interested in looking at property that borders our campuses," Drees said.

Algood's existing plant, which Barnett said is too old to modernize, was a Wheatley Mayonnaise factory in the 1920s and also once was home to the Louisville Soap Co. The Shedd Bartush division of Beatrice Foods used the plant until 1985.

When Barnett took over in 1985, the plant had 95 employees, produced 17 million pounds of peanut butter, and had about $15 million to $16 million in annual sales, he said.

Last year, Algood's Louisville plant had 122 employees producing 62 million pounds of peanut butter and sales "in the $60 million range."