Chobani Rome Dairy Plant — $1.2B Griffiss Park Facility, New York

Chobani could have built its third U.S. plant anywhere. A nationwide site search ended about 90 miles from where the company started in 2005, on a former Air Force base in Oneida County.

Project Scope

The plant sits on roughly 150 acres inside a 253-acre parcel at Griffiss Business and Technology Park, the redeveloped Griffiss Air Force Base in Rome. Chobani broke ground on April 22, 2025 with a 1.4 million-sq-ft program. The Rome Planning Board unanimously approved a third revised site plan on February 3, 2026 that pushed the footprint to roughly 2 million sq ft.

At full build the facility runs up to 28 production lines and turns out more than 1 billion pounds of dairy products a year. It processes about 12 million pounds of milk per day, which translates to roughly 6 billion pounds of raw milk purchased annually from New York farms. More than 1,000 full-time jobs are expected in Oneida County.

Rod Ives of Napierala Consulting carried the technical package through planning review, covering stormwater management, building heights, lighting, transit access and sidewalks. Oneida County started tree clearing in early 2026. Roundabout and noise-wall construction began in March 2026, with road and utility work moving across the Triangle Site.

Chobani has not publicly named a general contractor or architect, which is unusual for a project this size and this well covered.

Why It Matters

At $1.2 billion this is the largest investment in natural food manufacturing in U.S. history, according to Governor Kathy Hochul’s office. That’s the headline. The more interesting number for anyone tracking upstate industrial work is 6 billion pounds of milk, because a plant that size restructures the regional dairy market around it. New York farms now have a buyer with fixed, enormous, long-term demand within trucking distance.

The schedule deserves a caveat. Chobani has pointed at end-of-2026 for the facility, but site work only started in March 2026 and the program grew by roughly 40 percent in February. A phased commissioning running into 2027 looks more realistic than a single completion date, and the company has not published a revised milestone.

The site choice also says something about brownfield economics. Griffiss came with utilities, roads and a base of prior remediation. That head start is why a decommissioned bomber field beat greenfield sites in states with cheaper land.

Project Team & Details