Blue Diamond breaks ground on new receiving warehouse in Salida

Sacramento-based Blue Diamond Growers said Friday that officials broke ground on a new almond receiving warehouse at its Salida facility, which the cooperative calls the world’s largest almond receiving station.

The new 58,000-square-foot in Salida will have a maximum capacity of 60 million pounds of almonds. When it opens, it will be staffed by five to 10 full-time employees, according to cooperative spokeswoman Cassie Montgomery. The cooperative expects the warehouse to be in operation for the fall 2015 harvest season.

The new Salida facility will expand Blue Diamond’s receiving capabilities by 33 percent. The site will include roof-mounted conveyors to gently transport almonds into storage and spirals to move almonds from roof conveyors to the ground. The cooperative said the new facility will reduce wait times for Blue Diamond growers delivering their crop to Salida.

Blue Diamond employs nearly 1,000 people in Sacramento and about 400 in Salida. In mid-2013, the cooperative opened a 200,000-square-foot building in Turlock, part of a three-phase manufacturing and processing plant on 88 acres.

This story was originally published March 20, 2015 at 4:23 PM with the headline "Blue Diamond breaks ground on new receiving warehouse in Salida."