A Columbia County dairy company with deep roots in the Hudson Valley will move into a county-owned space on the former IBM campus in the Town of Ulster. On Monday, the Ulster County Economic Development Alliance announced it had signed a “letter of intent” — a preliminary to a lease agreement with Ancram-based Ronnybrook Farm Dairy.

If the deal is finalized, Ronnybrook Farm would act as an anchor tenant of the proposed Ulster Agribusiness Center, envisioned as a hub of food production and distribution at a site on the east side of the former IBM campus currently owned by UCEDA. The deal does not involve National Resources, a private company that owns the west side of the campus and first proposed bringing Ronnybrook Farm to the site back in 2022.

Plans call for the company to lease two buildings on the east campus. One, a 21,700-square-foot warehouse space, would be used for cultured dairy production. A 20,000-square-foot former powerhouse would be converted into cold storage. Ronnybrook Farm Dairy would use the cold storage for its own products and manage the space on behalf of UCEDA as part of the agribusiness center. The space would be subject to a 10-year lease with two five-year renewal options. The letter of intent sets a six-month time frame for the two parties to sign a formal lease agreement.

The Ulster Agribusiness Center aims to help local food producers by providing a centralized location for storage, production and distribution infrastructure for small- and medium-size companies. Backers of the project say the facility would help lower costs of food production while strengthening local supply chains and offering new opportunities for food-focused startups.

“The proposed Ulster Agribusiness Center aims to expand value-added production, diversify food and beverage manufacturing, and support shared services that strengthen the region’s farm economy,” said County Executive Jen Metzger. “Ronnybrook is an ideal partner as a values-driven business and respected New York State dairy producer with deep roots in the Hudson Valley dating back more than 80 years as a family farm. We look forward to working with owner Rick Osofsky and his team to bring the new center to fruition, and I want to thank the UCEDA Board for its continued commitment to transforming iPark into a hub of innovation and opportunity.”

The announcement represents a win for the county’s efforts to redevelop the former IBM campus. In 2021, developer National Resources took over a section of the west campus in a deal brokered by UCEDA and Ulster County which held the site for back taxes following the failure of the two-decade effort to redevelop the site as “TechCity” under another owner. The company, which paid $12 million for the east campus site, offered plans to invest $200 million in modernization, upgrades and environmental cleanup at what was dubbed iPark 87 while bringing in hundreds of high-quality new jobs. But five years later, that promise has gone largely unfulfilled.

Today the only tenants on the west campus are Ulster BOCES, which operates vocational programs at the site, and internet service provider Archtop Fiber. National Resources is $4 million behind on mortgage payments with another $628,000 in delinquent property taxes. Last month the UCEDA, with backing from Metzger, announced that they would begin foreclosure proceedings against two National Resource buildings on the east campus adjacent to the proposed agribusiness center.