Photos: The NewCold Opening Brings Dutch Royalty to McDonough

Photo shows an aerial view of the NewCold McDonough food storage facility (company photo). — NewCold opened phase 1 of its McDonough facility in June 2024. Construction on phase 2 will start later this year located to the right of the first phase. (company photo)

The opening of a new automated food storage facility, NewCold, brought Dutch royalty to McDonough on Monday, June 10. Their Majesties King Willem-Alexander and Queen Máxima of the Netherlands represent the first foreign heads of state to visit Henry County in its history.

The Dutch-based NewCold invested $333 million to construct its McDonough facility. They celebrated the grand opening of phase I this week. The company will start construction on phase II later this year.

NewCold in McDonough

NewCold is an automated food storage facility. The company founded in 2012. They announced plans to locate in McDonough in October 2022. At the time, NewCold was the largest corporate investment in Henry County history. They are located on highway 42 south of King Mill Road.

McDonough is the company’s 4th food storage, and 1st dry goods, facility in North America. Jonas Swarttouw, the company’s North America Chairman, shared they have ambitious plans for the continent. They are targeting 25 facilities by the year 2030.

Swarttouw also shared why they chose McDonough when looking at the Atlanta area. Their customers encouraged them to look at south metro Atlanta to be closer to Florida. NewCold required an ability to construct vertically, have railroad access, and acquire a large plot of land for its site. McDonough offered the right combination of all three factors.

Right now, the facility supports one customer. Goods stored at the facility are then shipped throughout the US East Coast and southeastern United States. NewCold has plans to support more customers by adding phase II. The second phase will add 420,843 square feet onto the building. It will provide frozen food storage. Phase I measures 400,070 sq ft for comparison, and focuses on dry goods. When complete, the facility will total 84,000 pallet positions.

The new facility will create 170 positions. The company prides itself on providing careers, not solely jobs. They frequently fill positions via internal promotions. Their average salary is also higher than other industrial companies.