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The Genesee Valley Regional Market Authority plans to expand its footprint in the Town of Chili.
The authority is perhaps best known as the owner and operator of the Genesee Valley Regional Market at Jefferson Avenue and Clay Road in Henrietta. But it also owns an 80-acre site at 1861 Scottsville Road in Chili, and will construct its fourth building on the site this summer. It also plans to erect another five buildings on the site by 2021, says Bill Mulligan, the market authority's administrator.
The state-established authority submitted its plans to the Town of Chili for review, even though it doesn't need to. Supervisor David Dunning says that officials appreciate that the authority sought the town's input.
"We've talked to them about some signage and things, and they've worked with us on that," Dunning says.
Tenants at the authority's Chili complex include a medicinal mushroom company, a CrossFit facility, a play center for children, and a janitorial supplies company.
The Genesee Valley Regional Market started as a food distribution hub for the Rochester region. It still serves that function, with tenants including meat and produce distributors, grocery stores, and commercial bakeries. But among the 190 operations in the Henrietta market are a hotel, a church, and a construction company.
Some state officials, notably former Governor David Paterson, proposed dissolving the authority in 2010, saying that it had strayed from its ag roots. But market officials and members of the state legislative delegation were able to negotiate a compromise with the state.
Three-quarters of the lease revenues — from both the Henrietta and Chili sites — are given to the state for agricultural programs. Market proceeds have helped fund Cornell Cooperative Extension offices, the New York State Agricultural Experiment Station in Geneva, and programs for apple growers and wine producers, Mulligan says.