Photo courtesy of Nestlé Waters
Yorktown Heights first made international business headlines when iconic computer company IBM moved its Thomas J. Watson Research Center to Kitchawan Road in 1961. Almost 60 years later, history may have repeated itself when it was announced in May that a 40-square-mile census-designated tract in the Town of Yorktown would be the new home of ReadyRefresh®, the beverage-delivery service owned and operated by Nestlé Waters, which offers healthy hydration products and is a U.S. division of Switzerland-based food-and-beverage giant Nestlé.
Previously occupied by Verizon, the two-acre site at 3775 Crompond Road will be repurposed to function as a distribution facility for all of Nestlé Waters’ brands, which include Deer Park, Poland Spring, Perrier, Pellegrino, Arrowhead, and Nestle Pure Life, among others. The move will bring roughly 60 jobs to a single-structure 25,346 sq. ft. space near 202 Diner and Curry Honda. According to Yorktown Town Supervisor Matt Slater, Nestlé Waters’ set-up and occupancy of the location began the week after the approval was announced publicly.
“This was a really good match,” says Slater, who took office as town supervisor in January. “The company was looking to move north, and Yorktown is a great access point. Frankly, it’s the only Northern Westchester community where you can go north, south, east, and west.”
According to Slater, the move represents good news for residents in at least two ways. First, Nestlé Waters did not receive a tax abatement from the town, so its arrival will have no detrimental impact on local property taxes. Second, Slater says that Nestlé Waters has thus far been “very clear that they are very excited to be strong community partners in the town of Yorktown.”
Yorktown officials have made a series of moves recently designed to attract new business to its 10598 ZIP code, including expedited permitting processes (from eight weeks to one week), with waived filing fees, that allow food-service businesses to serve customers on sidewalks and/or parking lots throughout the summer, with a similar accommodation to follow imminently for retail establishments.
