Coca-Cola Enterprises will soon break ground on a new facility in South Brunswick, NJ while expanding operations at its Carlstadt plant.
“Coca-Cola is a world-class, Fortune 500 company that is recognized all over the globe as a symbol of growth and success,” Gov. Chris Christie said in South Brunswick. “The company’s decision to partner with and remain in the state of New Jersey is one of the clearest signals yet that our efforts to improve the state’s business climate is working.”
Christie aides said the new 230,000-square foot facility in South Brunswick, set to open in mid-2011, and the expansion of the existing Carlstadt plant will result in the retention of over 1,000 jobs and ensure the company has the space to accommodate future growth.
“After a comprehensive assessment, the decision was made to build a new facility in South Brunswick, and to expand our current operations in Carlstadt,” Michael Sullivan, Coca-Cola’s Market Unit vice president, CCE New Jersey, said . “Working with the state of New Jersey and the Christie administration, we were able to keep jobs in New Jersey and be well positioned to grow in the future.”
Christie noted his administration’s new Business Action Center, a component of the New Jersey Partnership for Action which provides a one-stop shop for business, combining all economic development activities under one roof, including business retention and attraction services. The center has launched a business call center, where customer service representatives are available to answer inquiries and businesses will get a return phone call from an account manager within 24 hours.
Christie said the Business Action Center will work closely with Coca-Cola as it moves on construction of the South Brunswick plant and will continue to assist other companies that have recently chosen to grow in New Jersey, including:
— Intrasphere Technologies — Relocation from New York City to Jersey City, 300 new jobs);
— Watson Pharmaceuticals — Parsippany expansion involving 175 new jobs;
— UPS — Retention of over 740 jobs in sites throughout Passaic and Bergen counties;
— Diversified Foam — 68 retained and 30 new manufacturing jobs in Gloucester County;
— PNY Technologies in Parsippany — Chose to remain in New Jersey and upgrade its flash memory card manufacturing facility.
This week’s announcement adds Coca-Cola Enterprises to an expanding list of Fortune 500 companies opting to continue operating in New Jersey, including Campbell’s Soup Co. Honeywell, and Pitney Bowes. Fourteen other firms from New York, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Tennessee and Maryland have made the choice to relocate operations to New Jersey since January. The moves represent 1,180 new jobs and nearly $27 million in total public-private investment generated for the state.
