SOUTH DEERFIELD — New England Natural Bakers is closer than ever to breaking ground on the former Oxford Pickle site on Jewett Avenue.
Last week, the bakery’s Director of Operations Scott Johnson said negotiations between his business and the town are wrapping up, awaiting “a final closing date.”
“We’re just trying to work through the final details of the purchase,” Johnson said about the transfer of land, which has been owned by the town since 2008. Interim Town Administrator Douglass Finn confirmed that negotiations have been ongoing.
Johnson said there isn’t a set date for ground-breaking yet. New England Natural Bakers decided to move to Deerfield after outgrowing its current building in Greenfield.
The years-long negotiating process dates back to 2008 when the town purchased the former Oxford Pickle Company’s land after it closed in 2006 for $1.7 million.
Six years later in 2014, New England Natural Bakers made an offer of $38,500 per acre, or about $366,000 total, on 9.35 acres of a 16.1-acre land parcel. Also in 2014, the highway garage was built on four acres of the property.
Last year, in June 2015 the Select Board unanimously approved a design plan submitted by the bakers outlining a 56,000-square-foot prefabricated metal building, with an option to build a 20,000-square-foot addition within the next five to 10 years.