Ardent Mills celebrates new state-of-the-art facility after decades in downtown Tampa

GIBSONTON, Fla. - The old Ardent flour mill stood in the way of Water Street plans for five decades. The site was finally sold and acquired for development, but that's not how the story ends for Ardent Mills. 

The flour meal was relocated to Port Redwing where its state-of-the-art flour mill is now producing flour for bakeries all around the region.

RELATED: Ardent flour mill land becomes part of Water Street development

The new facility is just 15 miles south of downtown Tampa. The old downtown location had a lot of older equipment dated back to the early 1900s. The new flour mill facility has state-of-the-art technology and is the most automated flour mill in the country.

"People may not realize that we have a large flour producing facility in Tampa," Steve Neely, the plant manager with Ardent Mills, said. "You don't see wheat growing around locally, so we are what's considered a destination mill. That means we bring in the raw grain coming from the Midwest that's brought in on either rail or 110 car shuttle trains or in an ocean vessel where it could be 800,000 bushels at a time." 

The 10-acre Port of Tampa site have very noticeable large crane storage structures. They are approximately 50 feet in diameter, 170 feet tall that holds 300,000 bushels for each one of their 12 grain storage bins. 

Ardent Mills is one of only two flour mills that exist in the state of Florida.