Coca-Cola in Northampton will stay open through 2025

The Coca-Cola bottling plant on Industrial Drive in Northampton is expected to remain open through the end of 2025, some 18 months after it was projected to close.

The Coca-Cola bottling plant on Industrial Drive in Northampton is expected to remain open through the end of 2025, some 18 months after it was projected to close. GAZETTE FILE PHOTO

By ALEXANDER MACDOUGALL

Staff Writer

Published: 01-22-2025 5:17 PM

NORTHAMPTON — More than a year and a half after it initially planned to close, the Coca-Cola bottling plant on Industrial Drive will remain open through 2025, though its future in the city remains uncertain.

A spokesperson for Coca-Cola confirmed the plant will continue to remain open for the time being, stating that “due to unforeseen circumstances, we have made the decision to operate our Northampton facility through at least the end of 2025.”

The plant bottles the beverage company’s non-carbonated products such as Minute Maid and Powerade, and employs around 300 people. It is the largest industrial site and the largest water consumer in the city, at one point accounting for a quarter of all of the city’s water and sewer revenue.

In anticipation of the plant’s closing, Northampton raised base water and sewer rates by more than 200% in 2023, affecting most homeowners.

The company first announced the planned closure of the plant in 2021, saying at the time operations would cease by the summer 2023. But the timing of the plant’s closure has been continuously pushed back, with no clear sign of when workers there may need to find new jobs.

Both city and state officials have met to discuss the future of the plant and potentially finding a new occupant, including a visit by Executive Office of Economic Development Secretary Yvonne Hao during a tour of Northampton in April.

State Rep. Lindsay Sabadosa, part of that cohort of officials, told the Gazette that the delays of the closure occurred because Coca-Cola had planned to transition its bottling business to a new company, but that company had faced outbreaks of E. coli and prospects of bankruptcy, preventing that transition from taking place.

“I don’t think it changes their plans to eventually close,” Sabadosa said. “Things are in a holding pattern until they figure out their next steps.”

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Mayor Gina-Louise Sciarra said Wednesday that even though Coca-Cola will stay for the rest of this year, the city does not plan on changing its water rates. She said in a statement that the plant has reduced production and uses significantly less water than it did at its peak.

“While we remain hopeful that this added time allows us to continue working with Coca-Cola to reconsider their plans, they continue to say they will be leaving Northampton,” Sciarra said. “We must plan for the worst-case scenario and maintain the current structure to protect the city and its essential services.”

Coca-Cola bought the former Mid-Atlantic Canners Association facility on Industrial Drive in 1995. The plant underwent a 13,000-square-foot expansion, completed in 2011, that cost $50 million and added 100 jobs. The company benefited from a 13-year agreement with the city — signed in March 2010 — that reduced its tax burden on the 2011 expansion by 50% for the first seven years, then 25% for the remainder.

The property where the plant is located is currently valued at more than $20 million, according to the assessor’s office, making it one of the most valuable taxable properties in the city.

Alexander MacDougall can be reached at amacdougall@gazettenet.com.