Blue Buffalo to buy additional 36 acres, seeking workers for Richmond facility

Blue Buffalo has agreed to buy 35.9 acres of land from the city of Richmond, Economic Development Corp. of Wayne County president Valerie Shaffer said Monday.

While the exact use of the land has not yet been finalized, Shaffer indicated there's a possibility it could be used for future development by Blue Buffalo itself, or ultimately leased to another business.

"They've talked about some ideas with me that really aren't to the stage where they would make them public at this point," she said. "That runs from them finding ways to utilize the site themselves to even potentially leasing that land to one of their suppliers."

The company announced its initial plans to invest at least $147 million in a 400,000-square-foot production and distribution facility and research and development center in May 2016 and a groundbreaking was held at the industrial park in September of that same year.