COLUMBUS, Ind. — A California-based beverage production company planning to expand by locating its Midwest headquarters in Columbus chose the city largely because of the city’s investment in infrastructure and its business climate focused on manufacturing.
Last week, Ninth Avenue Foods, headquartered in City of Industry, California, announced plans to locate its Midwest headquarters and production facility in Columbus, its first facility outside of its home state. More than a couple dozen sites were under consideration as possible locations.
The company intends to invest about $103.5 million to build and equip a 260,000-square-foot dairy and plant-based beverage facility on a 40-acre site located just east of the Woodside Industrial Park, on Columbus’ south side near the intersection of County Road 175W and Deaver Road.
The facility is expected to employ up to 101 new employees by the end of 2024, company officials.
For Joe Lunzer, vice president of operations at Ninth Avenue Foods, who scouted the more than two dozen sites in roughly the past year and half, the city’s focus on automotive manufacturing was attractive because the infrastructure it had in place and the skilled labor force.
“The infrastructure that’s required for our industry is probably not that different from automotive, a lot of power, natural gas,” Lunzer said. “We use a little bit more water than the automotive industry and have some needs that the automotive industry doesn’t have, and Columbus had very reasonable rates in all of those areas.”
“The business climate in Columbus is very focused around manufacturing,” he added. “That, in general, really drew us in. There’s a great workforce there, so access to skilled labor is obviously very important for us, and there’s a lot of that in Columbus with the automotive industry.”
Bristol, Tennessee was, at least at one time, the company’s second choice, Lunzer said.
The Columbus City Council approved company’s request for a 10-year tax abatement on Tuesday, which will offer the company a gradual phase-in of its property taxes over 10 years.
For the complete story, see Thursday’s Republic.
