byNathan Granger
CORRECTION: The original version of this article misstated that the Kenton County Site Development fund had $130 million. This was was a clerical error, and the relevant line has been updated to reflect the fund’s true value.–LINK nky editorial, Aug. 16, 2024
A large industrial development in Elsmere that will possibly play host to an affiliate of Niagra Bottling, a California-headquartered beverage company with plants throughout the nation, received multiple financial aid packages this week — one from the City of Elsmere itself and one from the county.
If the development comes to fruition, the building will be located 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.
Two other buildings are slated for occupancy by a Chik-Fil-A distribution center, and then, finally, by Niagara Bottling. Elsmere Mayor Marty Lenhof confirmed with LINK nky that the Niagara facility would be a bottling plant.
The incentives have taken two forms: The first is an industrial revenue bond package of up to $75 million from the City of Elsmere, affirmed on Tuesday. The text of the ordinance states that the bonds will finance the construction and equipping of the building, which is leased to Flytrap and Fevers, an LLC affiliate of Niagara Bottling. Elsmere entered a development agreement with CORE5 Industrial Partners in December 2021.
The Kenton County Fiscal Court, on the other hand, approved a $669,000 allocation on Tuesday from the county’s $13 million site development fund, which was secured by Sen. Chris McDaniel (R-Ryland Heights) in 2023.
The allocation will finance power line installation at the site. Niagara Bottling is not mentioned in the fiscal court resolution documents or in the press release that followed, but the address of the facility is the same as the C5 Logistics Center.
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.
Statements from local officials suggest that they hope the development will bring jobs to the area.
“We’ve worked to ensure our site development dollars are being deployed in a fiscally responsible way, with the projects we back meeting our economic development goals and producing a high return on investment for our community,” Judge/Executive Kris Knochelmann said in the county’s press release. “This project meets both those criteria since recruiting more manufacturing jobs to Kenton County is a priority. The jobs this project will only pay good wages and offer long-term stability for our residents.”
Lenhof told attendees to the Aug. 17 Kenton County mayors group meeting that there would be 178 jobs out of the Chik-Fil-A facility. The warehouse laborers would have salaries of about $40,000, he said, and management would have salaries of about $140,000. The Niagara facility, on the other hand, would bring about 60 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.
Much of the language in the public records LINK nky has examined suggests the deal may not be finalized yet. LINK nky has reached out to Niagara Bottling and others for comment.
This is a developing story, and LINK nky will report more as more information becomes available.
Mildred Nguyen contributed reporting to this brief.
