PepsiCo Inc.'s largest bottling operation in Texas is about to get bigger, with a $25 million investment in equipment to make PET bottles.
The Mesquite City Council on Jan. 22 approved a tax incentive agreement with Pepsi Bottling Group Inc. that will result this summer in a 30 percent expansion of Pepsi's Mesquite production capacity and about 10 new jobs.
The firm will add about 100,000 square feet of warehouse and bottle manufacturing space to an existing 290,000-square-foot plant.
Twenty percent of the expansion will be for production of a dedicated Aquafina bottled-water line, while 80 percent will be for storage, said Jeff Dahncke, spokesman for the Somers, N.Y.-based firm, in a Jan. 30 telephone interview.
Dahncke declined to name the supplier or the type of machines that Pepsi is adding, citing competitive concerns. He said the company is spending $10 million on the building expansion and $15 million on equipment.
The agreement between Pepsi and the city gives the company a 50 percent tax rebate over five years on the expansion. The deal also requires Pepsi to move pallet storage to a secluded on-site location, away from nearby Interstate 30.