Cost: $27.0 million
BCCC NMTC allocation: $8 million
Sponsor: One World Beef
Investor: JPMorgan Chase
Location: Imperial County, CA
Description: The One World Beef project (OWB) consists of the purchase and rehabilitation of a 337,000 square foot beef processing plant including retrofitting the wastewater treatment facilities to upgrade them to meet the Regional Water Quality Control Board’s regulatory standard. Regarding the livestock industry, the Imperial County Economic Forecast for 2015 said: "… this industry has all but disappeared due to events that occurred earlier in 2014 when National Beef (a beef processing facility in Brawley, CA) moved their operations outside the State of California…" OWB is anticipated to revitalize the once booming livestock industry in Imperial County. Imperial County typically has between 20% - 25% unemployment which is among the highest in the nation and OWB is anticipated to create 600 jobs ramping up over a four year period. The City of Brawley Mayor, Don Wharton, stated: “the positive impact that the re-opening of the beef plant extends beyond the city limits. Job creation on this level does not happen often, therefore the significance of this industry returning to Brawley is immeasurable.”
