A local seafood company has sold one of its Tacoma sites as it works to consolidate operations ahead of a planned expansion at the Port of Tacoma.

An LLC affiliated with Shinkei Systems of El Segundo, California last month acquired the Fathom Seafood facility at 2544 S. Fawcett Ave. for $4.2 million, according to Pierce County property records.

The property acquisition will become Shinkei’s first wild-caught fish processing plant, set to “scale production and distribution of Michelin-quality fish nationwide,” according to a news release issued March 11.

The 16,000-square-foot facility “will serve as a central hub...supporting growth across both restaurant and retail channels to bring pristine, sustainably harvested fish to more chefs and consumers nationwide,” the company stated in its release.

The site also will introduce NERA, the company’s next-generation quality control system, according to the release.

“The platform analyzes each fish in real-time, translating biological markers into objective quality assessments and shelf-life projections,” the release stated. “Shinkei uses NERA’s insights to guide distribution decisions and ensure every portion arrives at peak freshness.”

Shinkei also noted that the site “is expected to be fully operational this spring with a core team of more than 50 employees, with additional hiring planned during peak fishing seasons in the years ahead.”

Fathom CEO Cody Mills told The News Tribune via email in response to questions that “we chose Shinkei to sell to because of their ownership founders and their desire to be in Tacoma and to work toward the future of seafood.”

He added, “They are doing incredible things with robotics and food quality. We supply them seafood from our docks, and we will be able to provide them cold storage solutions at our new facility.”

Mills noted that Fathom has completed its first year “running our robotic butchered humane killed crab line at our other Tacoma facility,” on Marine View Drive.

The company is moving operations from the Fawcett site to its Tacoma headquarters site, 1690 Marine View Dr.

“Robotics and automation have helped us improve and consolidate our current operations into a single facility,” he said. “These advancements and decisions are proving to be critical and important options for us in troubling economic times in the local markets and port, as well as difficult times for the entire West Coast seafood industry.

“These decisions will help us operate a more lean business while still employing hundreds of employees in the Port of Tacoma.”

Last March The News Tribune reported on Fathoms’s plans for a new $280 million cold storage and processing facility at the port.

A first reading of the proposal was heard by the port commission in November.

Mills, in his email this week, stated that the project is progressing.

“The capital markets have tightened a lot due to the current environment and these are very difficult times to build massive projects,” he wrote.

“Saxum, our developer, remains committed to the project, and we are still focused on raising the operating capital necessary in the evolving landscape with global trade challenges.”