The governor’s office officially announced on Monday that Niagara Bottling will locate a bottling facility in Elsmere. Although discussions about the facility have been going on for years, the governor’s statement shows the deal has been finalized.
The facility will be housed at the C5 Airport East Logistics Center on Buffington Road in Elsmere, which CORE5 Industrial Partners have developed. It’s the fifth of five buildings in the complex. Two of the buildings are already occupied by E-commerce company FUN.com and hand sanitizer manufacturer Diversey.
The facility will feature 436,800 square feet of advanced manufacturing space, including beverage production and distribution operations. The governor’s announcement put estimated number of full-time jobs at the facility at 60 with hiring beginning in 2026.
The city and county approved two large financial incentive packages for the facility in August. The first is an industrial revenue bond package of up to $75 million from the City of Elsmere. The second came from the Kenton County Fiscal Court in the form of a $669,000 allocation for utility installation from the county’s $13 million site development fund, which was secured by Sen. Chris McDaniel (R-Ryland Heights) in 2022.
Niagara Bottling also received incentives from the Kentucky Economic Development Finance Authority in June. Page 12 of the authority’s June meeting minutes show that the authority approved $1.1 million in tax incentives from the Kentucky Business Investment Program and $200,000 in sales tax refunds for construction materials through the Kentucky Enterprise Initiative Act.
The governor’s announcement put the overall worth of the facility at $129.8 million.
“We are very excited to establish our newest manufacturing facility in Kenton County in the city of Elsmere, Kentucky,” said Brian Hess, executive vice president at Niagara Bottling, in the governor’s release. “Niagara Bottling is committed to supporting our local communities, providing our team members with opportunities for career advancement and utilizing sustainable business practices.”
Elsmere Mayor Marty Lenhof told attendees to the Aug. 17 Kenton County mayors group meeting the Niagara facility would bring jobs with salaries of about $75,000.
Niagara has received more than $16.8 million in subsidies from various states, according to data from Good Jobs First, which tracks corporate tax breaks, since 2007.
Niagara and the bottling industry generally have come under fire in the past due to the environmental effects of their operations. For instance, in 2021, New York resident Eladia Duchimaza sued the company, alleging that much of the plastic in the company’s bottles was not, in fact, recyclable. Niagara won that case.
The company has also been criticized for drawing water from public sources. Most recently, in June, the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources allowed Niagara to pump 365 million gallons per year from the Prairie du Chien-Jordan aquifer for a proposed facility in the city of Elko New Market, Minnesota, in spite of residents’ complaints about the pumping’s possible effects on the local water supply.
Construction is slated to begin early next year.
Mildred Nguyen contributed reporting to this brief.