BIG SKY ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT NEWS (March 29, 2022) – Coca-Cola High Country will hold a groundbreaking ceremony for its’ manufacturing and distribution facility on Thursday, March 31st at 3:30 pm. The site, located on the 1800 block of Harnish, will include 60,000 square feet of warehouse space, a 20,000 square foot truck bay, 80,000 square feet of manufacturing space, a 76,000 square foot fleet shop, and 15,000 square feet of office. Representing nearly $50 million in investment between the structure and equipment.
This project was made possible in part by a critical partnership between Big Sky Economic Development, the City of Billings, and Yellowstone County. “Coca-Cola came to us over two years ago and shared that they planned to build a new distribution center but, if infrastructure was in place, they would be in a position to consider manufacturing as well” said Big Sky Economic Development’s Director of Business Recruitment, Allison Corbyn. “While distribution is fantastic, the additional high paying jobs and investment that comes with manufacturing made supporting infrastructure our target.”
Big Sky Economic Development contributed $250,000 toward the extension of water and sewer, as did the City of Billings. “This project is unique in that by partnering with Coca-Cola High Country, we are also opening up hundreds of additional acres for development, because they will now have infrastructure available” said City Administrator, Chris Kukulski. “Its public-private partnerships like these that will help drive positive growth in our community.”
Both the City and County also granted Coca-Cola High Country a tax abatement which helps offset the significant costs associated with getting a plant of this scale up and running. “Increasing the number of manufactures in our community is critical to growing our economy. Coca-Cola High Country is making a huge investment, and we wanted to make sure that investment happened here in Yellowstone County” said County Commission Chair, Don Jones.
“Infrastructure is extremely costly, without the support of this community, establishing manufacturing in Billings, Montana would not be financially viable”, said Coca-Cola High County CEO, Trevor Messinger. “We appreciate the community’s partnership”.