No one saw this coming on June 21. That was the day the county, north county community and a number of elected officials celebrated the opening of the massive Americold freezer facility off Williams Street in the town of Dunkirk.

Exactly one month later, one of its major customers has pivoted in its expansion plans. On Thursday, Wells Enterprises based out of Iowa put the brakes on the major plant expansion in the city that will likely result in a major decrease for the workforce.

“As market trends shift in our industry, we adapt and optimize our operations to ensure continued success of our business. We recently completed a comprehensive review of our manufacturing footprint and our needs to support our overall business strategy,” Wells said in a statement. “As a result, we have made the difficult decision to scale back operations at our Dunkirk, New York facility in 2023 to 5 production lines. Our intention is to continue our normal operations for the remainder of 2022.”

In 2019, the ice cream company announced an $87 million project to grow operations here. Since then, according to Chief Executive Officer Mike Wells, the facility has around 700 workers. By January 2023, when the layoffs take effect, that number could be cut in half.

Wells will remain an industrial giant for the north county, that continues to include Refresco and Nestle Purina. But this action is an unexpected blow to the economy.