New company joins Charlotte-area beverage hub, will invest $383.8M and add 220 jobs

Another global company plans to create 220 jobs and invest $383.8 million at the new beverage manufacturing hub in Concord, Gov. Roy Cooper said Tuesday.

Ball Corp., an aluminum beverage packaging company based in Colorado, will join Red Bull and Rauch at The Grounds at Concord, the former Philip Morris cigarette manufacturing site near Charlotte Motor Speedway.

Red Bull and Rauch earlier this month announced plans to build a 2 million-square-foot beverage manufacturing site, adding more than 400 jobs and invest $740 million by 2027, the Observer previously reported.

“The beverage manufacturing campus in Cabarrus County is now a billion-dollar operation,” N.C. Commerce Secretary Machelle Baker Sanders said in a statement Tuesday.

The three companies together are investing over $1 billion in the county by 2027, creating more than 600 jobs at an overall average wage of $57,393, according to Cabarrus Economic Development Corp.

Ball, a global leader in supplying recyclable aluminum packaging for beverages and aerosols, is the third piece of the “historic economic development package,” Cooper said in a statement.

The average annual salary at Ball is $70,555, according to a news release. Cabarrus County’s average annual wage is $41,255.

NC incentives for the company

Like Red Bull and Rauch, Ball’s expansion includes economic incentives at the new campus.

The Job Development Investment Grants approved by the state’s Economic Investment Committee on Tuesday includes incentives of up to more than $3 million over 12 years.

Red Bull received over $1 million over 12 years for 90 new jobs and Rauch over $3 million over 12 years for 323 new jobs, the Observer previously reported.

The hub will include Red Bull’s 800,000-square-foot regional distribution center and Rauch North America’s can-filling operation covering 1.4 million square feet of factory, distribution and office space, according to the Cabarrus Economic Development Corp.

Ball will manufacture aluminum cans for Red Bull and other customers in a new, 800,000-square-foot site, according to the news release.

The 141-year-old company has more than 60 production facilities and 21,500 employees worldwide.