TORONTO - Dominion Citrus Limited announced that it has entered into a long-term design-build lease agreement with Storcan Self Storage One Limited for the construction of a 58,000-square-foot refrigerated warehouse and processing facility.

The new facility will be located on 4.25 acres of land in the city of Toronto fronting Highway 401 at Highway 427. Dominion will move its wholesale operation and Country Fresh business to the facility. The facility will have state-of-the-art refrigeration equipment with ozone and ethylene treatment systems.

"This facility will allow us to consolidate two of our operations into one building along with our head office personnel," stated Jacques Lavergne, president and CEO. "We expect this consolidation will allow us to realize operational synergies and enable us to better serve our customers.

"It also provides additional space as our business expands in the future. We will continue to operate from the Ontario Food Terminal with a focus on serving our independent customers."

The construction of the building will begin in September 2004 with a target occupancy date of Oct. 1, 2005.

Publication date: 08/16/2004