Blue Star Foods, a supplier of premium crab meat and producer of farm-raised salmon products, has officially received an option from Beaufort County, South Carolina to purchase land for its planned Recirculatory Aquaculture Systems (RAS) expansion.
The Miami, Florida-headquartered company is working closely with the state’s department of commerce in regard to economic development and incentives specific for the soft shell crab project in. It is reviewing the summary with proposed tax breaks, abatements and other incentives in order to finalize capital needed to build the facility. Preliminary proposals from South Carolina are offering up to $3 million in incentives.
Atlantic Blue crab is going to be the main source of crabs to support the facility operation, which the company targets for 3.5 million crabs per year.
The 9.47 acre site can accommodate a 100,000-square-foot building and cold storage facility An approximate investment of $11,410,000 in real property (land and building) will be deployed for construction and installation of new machinery and other equipment. Furthermore, the integration of a crab hatchery on the premises will allow Blue Star to be truly vertically integrated as well as boast the largest soft shell crab production operation on the eastern shore of the United States.
“We are thrilled to partner with Beaufort County in expanding our soft shell crab RAS shedding operations, processing and cold storage facility, where up to 48 new jobs will be created over the next three years,” said Blue Star Foods Chairman and CEO John Keeler. “Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) financing will kick off once we execute our agreement with Beaufort County. Along with $3 million in incentives, this will enable us to access less dilutive capital in order to purchase the land and begin construction.”
