Governor Congratulates PepsiCo on New Oregon Manufacturing Facility

The $250 million dollar South Albany facility will create 500 family wage jobs for the area, with average salaries of more than $45,000 plus full health benefits for workers.

(SALEM) - Governor Kulongoski Thursday congratulated PespiCo’s decision to locate a new major facility in South Albany.

“PepsiCo’s manufacturing, bottling and distribution facility will create 500 good, family wage jobs for Oregonians,” said the Governor. “The partnership between state and local government and the private sector that helped make this announcement possible represents the type of collaboration needed to keep our state’s economy competitive and strong. I congratulate PepsiCo on their decision, good corporate stewardship, and long-term investment in our state.”

The 1.8 million square foot production and container manufacturing facility will also seek LEEDS (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification for the facility, a benchmark for high performance “green” buildings.

The Governor said that he looks forward to attending the groundbreaking set for spring 2007.

The Governor noted that his Economic Revitalization Team had been working with city and landowners toward site certification when PepsiCo first expressed interest in the site. State agencies were also mobilized in advance to address wetland mitigation and transportation issues to speed development of the facility under the Governor’s Industrial Lands Certification program.

“Business moves fast – and to stay competitive, state government must move at the speed of business,” said the Governor. “Our certification program is delivering results for Oregon and a healthy business climate for our state.”

The Governor also lauded the economic progress the state has made over the past three and a half years. When he took office in 2003, Governor Kulongoski directed the state’s economic development team to engage the private sector and local governments in creating jobs. At that time Oregon had an unemployment rate of 8.6 percent -- the highest of any state. Oregon’s unemployment rate now stands at 5.4 percent and enjoys the highest level of employment in Oregon history.

“My administration set a target of 17,000 new jobs in Oregon during our first term,” the Governor said. “We set out to attract new industries, companies, investments and innovation to Oregon. We made it our business to retain companies in Oregon and help businesses expand here. And, of course, we launched an aggressive effort to attract new businesses and manufacturing jobs to our state.”

Thanks to that effort, Oregon didn’t gain 17,000 new jobs. It gained more than 135,000 new jobs -- in part due to the state’s aggressive Industrial Lands Certification program to expand Oregon’s inventory of shovel-ready sites. The state now has the fifth-fastest-growing economy in America.

“We’ve attracted wonderful new companies to Oregon, and they’ve brought thousands of new jobs and major investments to every corner of our state -- companies like Amy’s Kitchen, Lowe’s, Royal Caribbean, Yahoo, Wachovia, Google, MathStar, and Genentech,” the Governor said. “And I pledge to you today that this is just the beginning.”