Pepsi pops top on Tech Center

GREELEY – Pepsi-Cola Bottling Co. of Greeley plans to build a new regional distribution warehouse at the West Greeley Tech Center, replacing its existing facility at 222 13th Ave. in Greeley.

The Pepsi-Cola Bottling facility, due to open by early next year, would be the first project in the 136-acre West Greeley Tech Center, located at the southeast corner of U.S. Highway 34 and Colorado Highway 257.

As planned, Pepsi-Cola Bottling will build a 56,000-square-foot complex on a nine-acre lot in the tech center, which is being developed jointly by Tom Roche and Seth Ward.

Roche, president of Roche Constructors Inc., said the entire business park could accommodate up to 1.1 million square feet of commercial space when it is built out. By comparison, the Hewlett-Packard Co./Agilent Technologies complex in southeast Fort Collins includes about 1.5 million square feet of office and manufacturing space.

The West Greeley Tech Center may have helped to keep Pepsi-Cola from leaving Greeley. The company was considering locations closer to Interstate 25 before committing to the new business park, Roche said.

Roche plans to break ground on the site in July.

Pepsi’s decision means West Greeley Tech Center will develop a full year sooner than expected.

“We felt as soon as we had a user we would move forward,” Roche said.

Pepsi-Cola Bottling employs about 75 people at the Greeley site. Upon moving to the new facility, the company expects to add “15 to 20” jobs, Klaphake said.

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